


Great Minds Think Alike

by AliceMalefoy



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-18
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2018-09-25 08:34:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 34,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9811493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliceMalefoy/pseuds/AliceMalefoy
Summary: A new girl arrives in town around the time of Jason Blossom's accident. That alone makes her suspicious and unlikeable to most people. Jughead has every reason to investigate on her, the timing is too perfect, right? And it has nothing to do with the young girl's odd yet charming way of always seeming to find her way back to him, no matter the situation.





	1. Chapter 1

The first time Iris entered the small town of Riverdale, she thought she had just stumbled upon the most boring place on earth and gave a desperate look to her dad as soon as she saw the ridiculously low number of people who lived here under the _Welcome to Riverdale_ sign.

A great deal of arguing happened when her parent broke the news to her that they were getting a divorce and then ensued a fight about who Iris would live with. The choice ended up being a practical one: after selling their house, her mom moved to a small apartment in Chicago, and her dad decided to go back to his hometown, in his childhood house. A house big enough for Iris to live in with him, big enough for her to keep sulking about being torn away from her life and friends and to keep avoiding her dad to silently punish him for destroying her life.

That's what she thought about when she saw the old looking but huge house with a white fence surrounding it. Iris was hyper aware of being dramatic, but nobody expected her to react any other way: she was at the age where every little change in her habits felt like a personal attack against her.

For the first month she mainly stayed in her room. It was the beginning of summer break, it was a shame to waste her holidays like this, but she was content with being on her own despite the boredom that came from this constant isolation. After a while she began to wander the streets early in the morning or late in the evening, to discover the town freely, without having too many people around to wonder how the hell she was – because it was the kind of small town where everybody knew everybody.

Riverdale didn't have the same holiday vibes than Chicago, Iris found herself appreciating the lack of sun and not having her air stick to the back of her neck or worrying about getting a sunstroke. Still, it was nicer to walk around before sunrise and after sunset. She gradually discovered what would later become her favorite spots in the town – the drive-thu, the public library, the gazebo in the park and her latest find: that 50's looking diner at the edge of the town.

It was way past 10pm the first time the saw the red neon sign that read “Pop's” and Iris wasn't going to deny herself a milkshake. Besides, she had been looking for a place to sit down and work a little the whole day, and the park was full of screaming kids today. If it gave her an excuse not to go back home before her dad went to bed, then it was all the more better.

A bell rang when she walked through the front door of the diner and Iris took in the interior, looking at the black and white floor tiles, the red seats of the booths and the jukebox sitting at the far end of the room. A little smile cracked her severe looking face and Iris couldn't help but nod appreciatively at what she saw. The man behind the counter greeted her and gave her a warm smile when she ordered her milkshake, before telling her that it would come right up and to take a seat.

Her bag hanging off her shoulder, Iris slowly walked down the row of booths – all empty, except for one. Curiosity took the best of her – she might not want to be looked at like she was some sort of curious animal but she wasn't asocial in the least – so she approached a little closer to have a better look. It was a boy who looked to be around her age, probably going to Riverdale High – since it was the only High School in a fifty miles radius – so this must be her first encounter with a potential classmate. His eyes were fixed on his computer screen and it seemed like he hasn't noticed her at all, despite the ringing of the bell when she opened the door.

For a couple seconds or so, Iris fumbled with the handle of her bag and hesitate, but she took a deep breath and stepped closer. The boy stiffened and his eyes slowly drifted from the computer to her, though he didn't move a muscle, his fingers frozen over the keyboard as though he was waiting for her to walk away before continuing.

“Hi,” Iris said. “It is okay if I sit with you?”

His brows shot up and he sat straight up to look around him, seeing all the booths were empty and they were the two only clients at this time of day.

“Why?” He asked.

This less than polite answer took Iris aback and she mimicked the boy's surprised expression upon hearing those words, though her determination didn't falter. She took in his appearance before answering and realized that while she might not be asocial at all, it might be his case. He looked tired – suitcases under his eyes kind of tired – and his disheveled head and creased shirt was a testimony of the fact that he obviously didn't plan on seeing anyone today, let alone a perfect stranger.

“I work better when I'm not alone,” she finally said, not waiting for his answer to sit down across from him. “I won't make conversation if that's what you're afraid of.”

The boy huffed, as if he was offended by her choice of words.

“I'd be surprised if you could handle a conversation with me,” he grumbled under his breath, not clearly not making any effort to not be heard from her.

“Are you always this rude or am I just lucky?” Iris asked, clicking her tongue inside her cheek.

She grabbed her laptop and set it on the table, seeing the way the boy's features went through surprise at first, then resignation and acceptance. She wouldn't leave this booth.

“Sarcasm,” he observed, giving her a pointed look. “Now you have my attention.”

“I don't want your attention, I want silent company and a white chocolate milkshake,” she replied as she began to type.

She just spent a month not talking to anyone but her reflection in the mirror, maybe she was just a little rusty? Iris didn't remember ever starting off a conversation this badly and yet there was something about this guy that made her stay where she was sat and not storm off to an empty booth at the other end of the diner.

The man brought her her milkshake, giving the boy a knowing smile when he walked away and went back to cleaning the counter.

“Who's being rude now?” Grumpy pants asked her.

“Who's making conversation now?” Iris said, merely sparing him a glance.

“What are you doing?”

“Writing, isn't it obvious?” She answered.

“Did you just sass me?” He asked, seemingly puzzled.

His dark wavy hair fell before his eyes and the screen light of his laptop emphasized his pale complexion and the circles under his eyes. He had blue eyes. Suddenly Iris realized she was staring a bit too hard if she managed to notice the color of his eyes.

“Evidently,” she laughed. “You're not very good at social interaction, are you?” She sighed in a way a teacher would when trying to get a difficult pupil to understand something.

“So much in common already and you haven't even introduced yourself,” he snickered.

“I'm-”

“I know who you are,” he cut her off. “I merely pointed out the fact that you haven't told me despite inviting yourself at my booth.”

“ _Your_ booth?” Iris repeated. “You haven't told me your name either, but maybe I should just look and I'll see it written on this booth?”

The hell was she going to let him make her feel bad about herself! She might not have displayed her good manners tonight, but he obviously didn't have _any_.

“ _Touché_ ,” he said. “Name's Jughead.”

“What kind of name is that?” Iris asked in a chuckle, momentarily forgetting to make an effort and be polite.

“ _Mine_ ,” he said, clearly not amused.

“Sorry,” Iris apologized and swallowed down, taking a sip of her milkshake and focusing back on her screen.

Five solid – though seemingly endless – minutes passed before either of them said anything, and Iris was surprise to hear the boy – Jughead – talk again after her rude question. She had to admit this one was on her, she should have kept her mouth shut.

“It's a nickname,” he said. “You're not asking how I know your name?”

“I'm the new girl in a small town, I would expect people to talk,” she simply answered and shrugged.

“Well, aren't you humble,” Jughead scoffed. “And out of all the people here, I'm the lucky one who gets to be insulted by the new girl.”

He was so blatantly trying to get rid of her while simultaneously enjoying himself very much that Iris wanted to grab the book in her bag and smack it on his head to make him swallow back his pride. How could this stranger awaken such violent impulses in her? The best way to get back at him was to not play along.

“You know, this is the most entertaining conversation I've had in weeks, if you're trying to ward me off and prevent me from coming here to bother you again, this is a bad strategy,” Iris simply told him, not looking up from her screen and continuing to type as though he wasn't bothering her in the least.

Jughead looked angry – or maybe he was hurt in his pride? - that she wasn't falling for it and kept opposing him with such force. After all, the idea that he misjudged her remained in the realm of possibilities. The new girl might be more interesting than he first thought and far more complex than what she looked like. From the outside she was another beauty queen who would no doubt end up member of the Vixens within the first week of school. Her ashy brown hair was tied back in a ponytail for purely practical reasons it seemed since it was quite messy and it looked like she had tied it without using a mirror. A few strands of hair framed her scarcely makeup-ed heart-shaped face. With her shorts and top she looked like an Cheryl Blossom number two, even though it was unlikely she knew her.

His lack of answer apparently didn't bother her whatsoever, and her fingers kept skillfully typing away whatever she was writing on her laptop – Jughead wanted to know, curiosity took the best of him. He noticed how she sucked in her cheeks when she stopped typing to think – about a word probably – and how her left eyebrow twitched when she deleted a sentence and rewrote it.

Time passed unevenly this evening. Neither of them had any idea what time it was when she eventually closed her laptop with a satisfied sigh and smiled, as though their entire conversation had been a figment of Jughead's imagination. She paid for her milkshake and wish him good luck with whatever he was writing himself before walking out.

It wasn't until much later, when Pop told him that it was time to leave that Jughead realized she had forgotten something. On her side of the booth he spotted a card lying on the seats and when he picked it up, he saw it was her ID. Must have fallen from her bag. He shrugged and shoved it in his pocket – he had no idea how or when he would return it to her, but he didn't want to leave it to Pop in case she came back. For some reason he wanted to give it back to her himself.

Iris Cecilia Graham from Chicago was the first interesting thing happening since Jason Blossom when MIA last month, and the fact that she arrived around the time of the boy's presumed death was just another reason for Jughead to see her again.

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

When Jughead saw her walking through the door at Pop's the next day he was torn between two opposite feelings: utter annoyance at being once again disturbed in his writing, and eagerness to share another conversation with this girl whose ability to use sarcasm as a means of communication matched his. It was a surprise to have her walked straight to his booth and sit down like they were old friends and not merely acquaintances who met the day before.

The truth was, he kind of hoped this would happen – it was a lonely life that of writer and High School outcast. Jughead wasn't going to deny himself a little company a few hours a day if he could, especially since his best friend bailed on him the day they planned their road trip and hasn't really spoken to him much since then. Can you feel the bitterness?

Iris and her white twirling summer dress were most welcome at his booth, even though he acted otherwise and sighed deeply when she took place across from him, like she did yesterday. He noted that this time she didn't ask if she could join him and simply did, apparently assuming he wouldn't object to having a new and unexpected writing buddy.

“Hi,” she said, smiling brightly.

It was like she just had the greatest day ever, and everything was best in the best of worlds. Today her hair was down and it fell messily on her shoulders – yesterday Jughead thought her haphazardly tied ponytail was an exception due to the heat but maybe she has never heard of brushes.

“Huh, hi?” He replied, sounding a little confused.

“Everything alright?” She asked with a little frown on her forehead. Even these crinkles couldn't make her look any less beaming.

“It was until you came here,” he answered automatically, aware of being unnecessarily rude, but she didn't seem to hold grudge against him for it.

“You're such a ray of sunshine Jughead,” she said, smiling even brighter if it was possible. “Don't mind me then, I can work in silence.”

With that she simply mimicked yesterday's action and pulled out her small laptop, then she gesture Pop to bring her the same milkshake as last night and she went to work, her eyes fixed on her screen and not drifting from it even when Pop brought her order. She simply thanked him and distractedly reached for the cold drink.

Unlike the night before, she didn't seem to struggle as much to write and the words seemed to flow freely from what Jughead could see.

“Iris?” He asked, saying her name for the first time.

He was a little annoyed at being the one who broke the silence _again_ , even though he was the one who wanted quiet. Her fingers stopped typing and she leaned back to look at him with questioning eyes. Jughead was still thinking about how weird it was to say her name out loud after knowing about her arrival for over a month.

“Care to explain why you're in such a good mood?” He asked, making sure to sound detached and jaded. He usually didn't have to put effort into this, it was his natural state but this girl made him uneasy in more than one way.

A smaller, fonder smile stretched her lips and for a split second, he saw her hesitate. She could lie to him, tell him she won the lottery with a scoff and he would probably let it slide because otherwise it would look like he cared at all. Except she didn't see the point in lying. For what she knew he could be a real jerk and end up snapping at her if she kept sitting at his booth day after day. For what she knew he was going to ignore her at school and didn't want to befriend her at all. There was nothing at stake, so why bother lying?

“I didn't go out much the first month after I moved in, and I didn't talk to anyone. Our conversation yesterday worked wonders on my mood,” she explained concisely.

The bewilderment on the boy's face made her laugh and she went back to work.

“Don't mess with me,” he told her. She was mocking him, there was no way this was the truth.

“I'm not. You're the highlight of my entire month,” she said teasingly this time. Now she was making fun of him, but gently not in a mean way.

“How boring is your life exactly?” He asked, his eyebrows shooting so far up they actually disappeared under his rebellious locks.

Iris shot him a 'not amused' glare and Jughead cracked a smile at this – a very small one.

“It's not _boring_ ,” she objected, emphasizing the word. “It's... lonely.”

“Give it time, you're a typically pretty girl with a fully functioning brain, you'll make friends before you know it,” he said in a tone that could only be qualified as resigned. Everything he just said was positive – although he did manage to phrase it in a way that didn't show it as a compliment – so why the sad voice?

“Mmh,” she hummed thoughtfully, leaning back against the red leather seat and biting down on her lower lip as she stared at Jughead, a look of disappointment twisted her features.

“What?” He snapped when she didn't add anything else.

“Well, I figured you weren't one to judge a book by its cover but it's fine, I can't always be right!” She concluded by raising her hands in defeat and grabbed her milkshake before slurping loudly, just to annoy him a little more.

“Oh,” he let out softly. “Prove me wrong, buttercup.”

Alright, she got it, if she kept slurping her milkshake she would get silly nicknames. She put it down and squinted her eyes at him.

“How do you expect me to do that? Should I wear a potato sack around town and let my leg hairs grow?” She snorted.

If she wasn't so amused by this conversation her good mood might have suffered from Jughead's constant bickering and attacking her for her looks. It was funny, honestly. She had never been judged for being 'pretty' before, it was never something she had to worry about.

“That would be beside the point,” he said. “Making yourself less physically attractive won't prove me wrong. The truth is attractive people flock together. From the moment school starts again you'll find better people to hang out with and pretend you don't know me at all. What you're doing now is social suicide.”

“This implies I have a social life, which I do not,” Iris pointed out the flaw in his reasoning. “You're pretty okay if we overlook your lack of knowledge of social conventions and basic politeness.”

“Why thank you,” he answered sarcastically.

“You already told me I was pretty and smart, thought I'd pay back with a compliment of my own.”

Iris grinned from ear to ear when she saw that it vexed him. Jughead was fighting the urge to face palm for lowering his guard enough to accidentally let compliments slip out of his mouth. Not that he didn't try to minimize them, but she was sharp enough to decipher them despite his clever phrasing.

“But if that's what it takes to prove you wrong about me, I accept the challenge,” she added, slowly twirling her milkshake with the tip of her fingers. The condensation made little droplets of water trickled down the glass and onto her hand. “Looks like you'll have to deal with me for a while.”

“Should've kept my mouth shut I guess,” Jughead replied, not sounding too bothered by the idea. Iris took the hint and smiled – it felt a little bit like they made peace.

“Tell me what you're writing,” she requested.

Jughead opened his mouth to answer, his eyes fixed on her hand that was holding her milkshake. He couldn't tear his gaze away from her fingers dancing up and down the glass and collecting the cold drops of water. He first wondered why she was so keen on dressing for hot weather and drinking milkshake like it was a matter of survival to this summer, because summer in Riverdale meant mild temperatures and a constant breeze. But then he realized that she was holding onto the way of life she had always known so far – a hot, sticky, sweaty summer and light dresses. Jughead didn't even bother upgrading his outfit and still wore his worn out leather boots, jeans with the elastic braces hanging down each side of his legs and the same damn shirt everyday.

“It's about this city,” he answered vaguely. “And about Jason Blossom's murder.”

“Come again?” Iris said, her eyebrows knitted together in abashment. “Who's this Jason guy?”

“A boy from my – sorry, _our_ – school,” Jughead clarified. “He disappeared the fourth of July and it's the most thrilling thing that's ever happened here. So thrilling it's suspicious actually, because nothing was ever supposed to happen in Riverdale.”

“You just said he was _murdered_ ,” Iris pointed out. “Disappearing and dying are two very different things!”

“He's presumed dead. People say he drowned in the river but a gunshot was heard – coincidentally at the same time of his supposedly deadly swim.”

“Are you investigating?” She asked, repressing a smile. “Interviewing people, digging out secrets and making a book out of it?”

“Judgy much?” He asked when he heard the tone of her voice.

“No judgment here.” Iris raised her hands. “I'm not saying it's immoral to exploit a boy's death like this, but it lacks of empathy don't you think?”

“Or maybe I'm the only person here showing actual sympathy to the grieving family by trying to find out what happened to Jason,” he replied.

“That's one way to see it I guess. It's weird that I haven't heard of it at all, I moved in two days before,” Iris whispered the last part, mostly to herself. “Am I a suspect?” She asked.

“Everybody is,” Jughead answered vaguely to avoid the question. “I already have a girl next door in my novel sadly.”

“Me? A girl next door? Oh my god-” Iris covered her mouth with her hand, letting go of her milkshake. She tried to muffle her laughter as best she could, but the sheer thought of being seen like some innocent, Hitchcockian blond was hilarious to her. “Wait until you know me better before writing me please. I'd be disappointed if you failed at grasping my persona.”

“Who says I want you in my novel?” Jughead scoffed, stealing the cherry in Iris' milkshake.

“The new girl moving in shortly before the presumed murder? It'd be terribly sloppy of you to omit mentioning my name if you claim to write about a true story.”

She made a compelling argument, there was no denying it.

“Just- don't turn me into some disposable plot device, it would hurt my feelings,” she added with a wink.

“Well, that's up to you. Don't act like a disposable plot device and I won't write you like that.”

“I'll do my best,” Iris vowed, raising her right hand.

“What are _you_ writing?” He then asked, his eyes switching from her to her laptop, his arms still crossed and resting on the edge of the table. “Can I?” He asked, this time pointing to her milkshake.

Iris shrugged and nodded. She didn't mind sharing. He took a sip of it, slurping like she did before.

“It's not my story. I proof read other people's stories and advise them on how to make it better,” she explained. “It's not always great but sometimes the stories are pretty good and enjoyable once I'm done correcting all the grammar crimes.”

“Sounds tedious,” he commented a bit flatly, as though he expected more from her and was disappointed with her answer. “Why not write your own story?”

“I'm not good enough,” Iris answered with a wince and a nervous laugh.

The subject made her uncomfortable, that was quite obvious, so Jughead dropped it, even though he wanted to object to that. He had never read anything from her, but she must be decent if other people allowed her to make changes to their work, and such lack of self-confidence contrasted with what little traits of her character he had figured out so far.

“You won't know if you don't try,” he blurted out before standing up. “I have to go somewhere, you'll have to finish your milkshake alone. Try the white peach one next time, it's the best.”

Iris blinked a couple times, taken aback by the height of this boy. He was much taller than she expected, and his lean body only emphasized this impression. He reached for his back pocket and pulled out what looked like an ID.

“You dropped this yesterday by the way.” He handed it to her and, and Iris took it, offering him a grateful smile and putting it away. “Well- I guess I'll see you tomorrow?” He asked hesitantly.

He didn't know what to think of her, but he was intrigued – and bored – enough to look forward to seeing her again and getting another chance to discover who exactly she was. If not the girl next door, then what? She obviously was no Cheryl Blossom, despite Jughead's first impression of her – and even less so one of Cheryl's minions. Once again, the corners of her mouth twitched upward in a faint and quick smile, a mixture of kindness and regret.

“I'll be there,” she promised and he walked backwards before turning around and strutting away from the diner. Iris waved him goodbye but Jughead was already far away and didn't turn around.

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

It happened so gradually that neither of them realized they were becoming friends until they actually were. At some point, Iris was already there when Jughead came to Pop's, she sometimes ordered fries and onion rings and she shared them with him as if it was the most natural thing to do. They liked to dip them in vanilla milkshake and Jughead ate the cherry on top while Iris ate the whipped cream. They no longer wrote all the time and ended up spending entire evenings doing nothing but dipping fries in the vanilla shake and talking, sharing far-fetched theories about Jason Blossom's death or discussing literature and Tarantino movies.

Jughead kept using dry humor to drag her when things became a little too intimate or when a conversation made him uncomfortable. Iris could take a hint and tried not to talk about these again – the first time, it was about his family. It was three weeks after they first met. She stord it I the touchy subjects drawer in her head and never mentioned it again, despite her curiosity. Everything about him stung her curiosity though, she couldn't help it.

After so many hours spent in his company, she began to form a clearer imagine of his persona. He was obviously trying to create a certain image with his sardonic humor and dark clothes, he wanted to the perceived a certain way by other people, but all the information she managed to gather about him was that he was a gigantic movie buff, a classic literature nerd and that he would sell his soul for a white peach milkshake.

He was pretty cute too when he stopped acting like a grump and smiled every so often. It made such a difference when he smiled, but she rarely got to see it first hand. One day though, he did grin from ear to ear, just for her, and the picture was engraved in her mind. It was a normal day. She wanted to come early to Pop's but Jughead was already there when she walked in.

He made a little hand gesture to say hi and deleted something he just wrote, unhappy with how it sounded. He had downed three cups of coffee and barely got any shut eye that night, as proved by the circles under his eyes. Iris sat down next to him. Not across from him. _Next to him._

“What are you doing?” Jughead asked, raising his head and staring at her like she had grown a third eye in the middle of the forehead.

He instinctively pulled back a little as he was taken by surprise when she simply sat down so close to him, not even bothered by the sudden proximity. They had never been this close before, they usually kept a polite distance, even if most of the time, they leaned over the table and shared their theories in a hushed, excited tone.

She was grinning like the Cheshire Cat - which couldn't be a good sign, right?

“I have something to show you,” she declared proudly, her smile widening a little more.

Jughead noticed there was a thin red gash on her cheek. The kind of wound you got when someone wearing a ring slapped you across the face, or when a small branch whipped you.

“You're bleeding,” he said in response, effectively making Iris' smile drop.

“What?!” Her hand flew to her nose, thinking she had a nosebleed.

“No, not there. On your cheek,” Jughead took a tissue and applied it to the gash before letting her hold it in place.

“Oh thank,” she said. “Anyway, as I was saying, I have something to show you.”

“Now?” He groaned, his eyes drifting toward his laptop and cup of coffee.

“Yes now!” She rolled her eyes at him. “I would've told you sooner but I have to way of contacting you!”

“Before you drag me out of my temple of solitude I have questions,” Jughead sighed. “First, what is it that's so urgent that I cannot finish my coffee? And second, why are you dressed like a lumberjack?”

Iris' jaw fell down and she looked at her clothes, frowning a bit. She wore a blue and green flannel, jean shorts and leather boots. Yeah, right, maybe it was a bit lumberjackish, but who was he to criticize?

“And look who's talking, the moody broody author wearing fifty shades of different blacks and drinking coffee like it's water – is there whiskey in this, _Hemingway_?” Iris sassed him, pointing at the half finished cup of coffee.

“Actually whiskey's more of a Bukowski thing,” he corrected her, earning a stern glare.

“Beside the point,” she replied. “I'll tell you what I found on our way there, now come! Get off your ass!” She gestured him to gather his things and hurry up and stood up to let him out of the booth.

Jughead put his stuff in his laptop bag and followed her – not without complaining a little, purely for her heck of it, and also because she was an adorable kind of angry person. He was puzzled to see her hop in a pickup when they reached the parking lot but he didn't show it and simply followed her inside. As soon as he was inside, Jughead began to look around as if he were looking for something.

“What are you doing, Jug?” Iris asked as she drove out of Pop's parking lot.

“Your ax,” he said and Iris snorted at that.

“Go ahead, make fun of my car,” she said. “At least I have one!”

“Tell me where we're going and I'll stop poking your for being a lumberjack,” Jughead bargained.

“I'm taking you to my cabin in the woods, where I store all of my axes,” Iris answered, giving him a wide sarcastic smile.

“Telling your future victim you're about to murder them in the woods is not a good murder strategy if you want my opinion,” he told her, even though she did not ask for it. “I could jump out of the car any moment.”

Iris detached her eyes from the empty road to give him a condescending glance and roll her eyes at Jughead's dramatic behavior.

“And risk scratching up your pretty face? You won't do it, you love yourself too much”, she laughed teasingly. “I'm taking you to the river.”

“Where you murdered Jason Blossom in cold blood out of sheer rage for being torn away from your home city?” Jughead suggested.

He hadn't realized the car had come to a stop before Iris turned her entire upper body towards him, letting go of the steering wheel.

“Jug- are you babbling because you're nervous?” She asked him, nudging him a little. He didn't answer but gave her an embarrassed smile. “Be serious for a second. I found something that you'll want to see for yourself. It's for your novel.”

“No murdering me?”

“I'm not murdering my only friend here!” Iris reasoned, opening the door and getting out of the car.

He wanted to ask her if she would have considered murdering him if she had made more friends during her stay so far, but he had a strong inkling that she would end up murdering him anyway if he kept pushing her buttons like that.

“What were you going in the woods in the first place?” He asked as he followed her through the tress.

Iris parked her car along the road, as close from the place she wanted to take Jughead as she could, since she hardly had any marks here. They would just walk until they reached it.

“I was taking a walk, I like to explore a bit,” she said, climbing over a big rock. “The sunrise from the edge of the river is pretty darn stunning.”

“The sunrise?” Jughead repeated. “The sun rises at six in the morning!”

“I know that, Einstein,” she laughed. “Watch out, there's a-”

But it was too late and a branch smack Jughead in the face, cutting a little gash on his cheek too and making him stumble back. Iris was too caught up in her burst of laughter to help him up after Jug fell to the ground. When she finally calmed down, there were little tears in her eyes and she reached out to give him a hand and help him get back on his feet.

“Now we match,” she said with a wink. “Open your eyes and be careful now!”

“Wait, wait, you're making me trudge on uneven ground for a mysterious reason, at least give me some kind of context,” he demanded, catching up on her and holding down a leafy branch for her to climb over a stump.

“There's not much to say, I like to take early morning walks and I ended up at the river- I think we're almost there, I recognize this tree,” she said, pointing at an ordinary looking oak.

Jughead didn't tell her that this tree looked exactly like every other tree to him and merely nodded and followed her, silently wondering why he was complaining so little about being brought here at twilight by this strange girl he befriended a few weeks ago.

“Here!” She exclaimed excitedly pointing at a lonely tree on the river's edge, next to a sharp ravine made of rocks that ended up in the river.

Iris grabbed Jughead forearm and led him to the tree as though it was a treasure chest and not some old chuck of dying wood. He didn't protest although he usually wasn't much of a touchy person and would rather keep his distance with other people, but Iris seemed to happy of her discovery that he didn't have it in him to disappoint her and rip his arm out of her grip. Also, it wasn't half as terrible as he thought to have her warm palm against his skin.

“Here,” she said again, pointing at a more specific part of the tree now that they both stood before it.

Jughead sucked in a breath when he saw what she wanted to show him.

“You said there was a gunshot at the time of Jason's accident, right? Could this be-”

“-the bullet that was shot that morning,” Jughead finished for her, answering her question.

He couldn't rip his gaze from the small piece of metal stuck in the wood, and wondered how the hell this escaped the police's attention.

“Did you tell anyone else? The Sheriff?” He questioned her, eventually turning around to meet an Iris with sparking eyes.

She was still holding onto his forearm, and Jughead realized that it didn't bother him when it was her. Iris shook her head no.

“I wanted to tell you first, before they could- you know- destroy evidence or whatever. I'm not a big fan of crime drama series.” She cleared her throat and let go of him. “But I was going to call them once you're done here.”

Jughead let out a funny laugh and threw his hands in the air, making Iris step back and give him a 'wtf' look. He brought his hands each side of her head without actually touching her and balled them into fists before stretching his fingers again a couple times, looking like he couldn't find the right words – which was a telltale sign of how excited he was.

“Oh Iris- I could kiss you right now!” He finally said, turning back to the tree then to her.

“Please don't do that,” she told him, pursing her lips and shaking her head.

“Wait, hold this!”

Jughead handed her his bag and once he had set it in her arms, he opened it and dug out an impressive camera. Then he began to take pictures of the bullet hole under every angle. For a while that's all he did, then he tried to find where the shooter must have been standing to hit that tree and wandered off in the bushes and between the trees for about fifteen minutes – until it began to be too dark to see.

“Hey Jug!” Iris called him and he walked a few steps backwards to stand in her line of sight. “Care to relieve me of your bag? It's getting heavy and I'm not staying here forever.”

He smirked and strutted back toward her, grabbing the laptop bag from her tired arms and putting away his precious camera.

“Had your fun?” She asked, giving him a lopsided smile and gesturing him to follow her. “Now it's my turn. We're watching the sunset.”

“See, that's the kind of thing I'd rather avoid in my novel,” Jughead commented yet did as she asked.

“What? Nice, cozy moments?” She asked.

“Clichés,” he replied. “But yeah, it's probably nice.

“You'll just have to leave this part of the story out of your novel then. The bonding time is irrelevant for a realistic crime novel, huh?” Iris chuckled, sitting down on the rocks and placing her elbows on her raised knees.

It was a shame, he thought. It was the best part in real life and yet it was considered boring in a novel to have but two characters talk and share stories and laughs.

“Can I ask you something?” Jughead found himself saying, to break the silence.

“Shoot,” Iris replied with a smirk, watching Jughead squint his eyes at her for the pun.

“I'm not your only friend, that's not possible. I mean here maybe, but you still talk to your friends from Chicago, right?”

He didn't even know why he cared but the very idea of this sociable, outgoing and fearless girl not having anyone else to talk to but his brooding ass was too sad to handle. She must have other people in her life. Iris couldn't just hang out on her own in the woods before dawn and stay with him in an empty 50's diner every night, only to avoid going back home. Jug knew that he has only known her for so long and there were plenty of things he didn't know about her, but what could be so wrong about her to result in such loneliness? Why did he like her company so much? Because he could relate to her situation?

“No,” she answered flatly. “For various reasons, none of them tried to contact me in over two months now. I argued with my best friend before leaving, some of my other friends are spoiled brats who are too busy sunbathing in the Hamptons to care about poor little me, and the others must have forgotten or replaced me already. Nobody's irreplaceable.”

“My nihilistic nature tends to agree with you, but my poetic soul wants to argue that anyone who's had the pleasure to meet you must have had a hard time replacing you,” Jughead said, feeling a little awkward about throwing out a heartfelt compliment.

The sun's rays bathed everything in a dim red and orange light – thank goodness, otherwise he would have seen her blush.

“But don't let this go to your head, you're still annoying the hell out of me most of the time.”

“Oh don't act like you're not enjoying my annoying self, you'd die of boredom without me!” Iris laughed, elbowing him slightly. She checked her phone to see what time it was. “I called the cops while you were on your scavenger hunt for clues. They'll be there soon, so if you want to leave it's now or never,” she told him.

“I thought my bag was bothering you,” Jug said.

“I have two hands Jug,” Iris chuckled and waved her hands to illustrate her words.

“What are we telling them?” He asked.

“That I dragged you here because I had this silly idea about watching the sunset?” She simply suggested. “It's close enough to the truth to be convincing.”

“Or you can leave and I'll stay here and talk to the police,” Jughead said after a minute of contemplative silence.

Iris gave him a confused frown and he explained himself.

“You know school starts next week? You'll not only be the new girl who coincidentally moved in right before the star quarterback went missing, but also the girl who found a bullet hole in a random tree in the middle of the woods. You'll be a pariah before second period.”

“And here goes my promising career of cheerleader,” Iris let out in a fake disappointed sigh. “How defeatist of me would it be if I told you that I don't care? I'm relatively tired of fake people who turn their back on their friends as soon as there's a little problem. If I'm gonna make friends, let it be because of who I am and not in spite of it.”

“And who are you, Iris Graham?” Jughead asked, mentally taking notes of her little speech for later pondering.

She smiled, and while they saw the artificial light of flashlights approach from the corner of their eye, she said something that Jughead would never forget.

“The thrill's in finding out, not knowing.”

 


	4. Chapter 4

It would take Jughead a great amount of time to figure out who exactly Iris was, but there were already a few things he could cross off the list. Queen B and girl next door being his first two wrong guesses. As the last week of holidays passed by and the first day of school rolled around, the mystery grew thicker instead of unfolding itself.   
In High School the rule about the new girl is that she stays the new girl until another one takes her place – it was very unlikely that another young girl moved to Riverdale of all towns and that before school starts again, but it did. Iris had been the new girl for about two months, during which everybody talked about her to the friends they met up during the holidays and tried to get a glimpse of her – though she was hell bent on enjoying her peace and only getting out of her house at the wee hours of the day – but a day or two before school began, another girl came to Riverdale, and suddenly Iris' little person wasn't the center of the universe anymore.   
She thought it was a blessing and figured most people had given up on seeing her show her face during daylight anyway. The new new girl would be the subject of all conversations and she would be left alone – hopefully. The first time she stepped through the doors of Riverdale High, Iris was a stranger to everyone and it was also the moment she realized she would stay a nobody to most. She had missed her window of opportunity and became irrelevant before even getting a chance to shine at school. When Iris avoided everyone it wasn't a desperate attempt to cement her new found status of loner, but simply a way to enjoy her summer down to the very last minute.   
Most people who moved to a new town had to suffer through the whole first day of school the blatant stares of the people they walked past. That's what she had readied herself for this morning, that's what she expected when she pushed open the doors and began to walk down the hallway and towards her locker – she had asked Jughead where it was so she wouldn't have to awkward roamed the corridors until she found it. Except it didn't happen like this.   
People rushed around here and there, ran by, walked past and bumped into her without every gracing her with so much as a glance or an apology. Time didn't pass in slow motion, the setting was on fast forward and things moved so quickly around her she didn't know where to look at, until the bell rang and the hallway cleared within a second, leaving her standing next to her unopened locker, wondering what just happened.   
“You don't want to be late for your first class,” someone said from behind her, making Iris almost jump in surprise and let out a yelp. “Sorry-” the girl apologized with a giggle. “-I didn't mean to scare you. I'm Betty,” she introduced herself and smiled.   
She was a kind and innocent looking blond with a bright smile and blue eyes. Her hair was tied in a strict high ponytail that probably pulled on her scalp, and she wore only pale colors. Iris returned the smile and introduced herself.  
“I know who you are,” Betty said. “I'm here to welcome you and Veronica, show you around, help you find your bearings, you know-” she trailed off, blushing slightly.   
Iris decided she was cute. This Betty girl looked like a doll – she was perfect, in every aspect. Her clothes were visibly soft and neatly ironed, even still smelled fresh like she only just washed them. Not a strand of hair had escaped her ponytail. Her skin was clear, her eyes sparkling and her lips pink. A Barbie doll.  
Iris opened her locker after a few failed tries and managed to store in the books she didn't have any use for until this afternoon in the small compartment.   
“Uhm- Veronica?” Iris asked.   
She had a strong inkling it was the other new girl. The New Girl with capital letters and not the second hand new girl she became in a heart beat. Iris had yet to meet her, but Jughead told her a few things- something about her dad being in prison? She honestly hadn't registered any information he gave her yesterday night at Pop's apart from the location of her locker.  
“Yes! She's new too!” Betty explained. “We'll find her later, for now let me show you your room!”  
Instead of grabbing her arm like Iris expected her to do, Betty simply gestured her to go ahead and walk down the hallway before telling her to go left. The pastel blond asked Iris to hand her her schedule and she happily pointed at today's first period, telling her they were together in history.   
“The teacher's pretty cool, he's not too strict with students who are late and lets it slide if you make it in the first ten minutes after the class's begun,” she explained, already giving tips on the teachers and the different classes. “But you better be five minute early to your math class,” she added, giving Iris a sad smiley face and wincing a bit as she looked at the name of the teacher. “I'll tell you more once Veronica is with us,” she promised.   
The two of them walked into class and silently took place in the last remaining seats. They weren't next to one another which might be for the best, Betty seemed nice – maybe a tiny bit more so than what Iris was used to with her friends from Chicago – but she could also be nice merely because she had to. She was in charge of Iris and this Veronica girl for the day, but that didn't mean she wanted them as friends, and Iris wasn't going to desperately hold onto the girl in an attempt to make at least one friend. She had this condition where the size of her ego stood in the way of her and potential friendships. Which, she was sure of it, was why she got along so well with Jughead - he had the same problem.   
It wasn't until after fourth period that Betty found Veronica and Iris shrunk even more on herself. Out of all the things she figured she might feel today – lost, confused, bored, annoyed, maybe tired - she never thought she would feel under dressed and self conscious, but as soon as Veronica Lodge came into view, she shamefully looked at her no-longer-white white converses only to be overwhelmed with the urge to replace them with new ones as soon as possible.   
“Iris, let me introduce you to Veronica. Veronica, this is Iris,” Betty made the introductions for them and the stunning New Girl reached out her hand to shakes Iris'.   
Her brain was still somewhat stuck on her dirty shoes and it was due solely to muscle memory that Iris shook Veronica's hand, hoping against hope she wasn't drooling like a brain dead vegetable.   
“Nice to meet you. I'm glad not to be alone in this, being the new girl is never a walk in the park,” she said with a warm smile before replacing her bag in her elbow.   
Iris never set a foot in a luxury store, but her female genes told her the bag was designer and a single glance at her delicate hands ending on neatly done shiny nail polish told her the girl got manicures since she was twelve. After these deductions, Iris didn't even question the genuineness of the pearls around Veronica's neck.   
“Yeah, having two new gossip subjects surely will do the trick to split their attention,” Iris joked between gritted teeth.   
She wanted to go home and fix her makeup and also maybe dig out a dress to wear instead of the jeans rolled up above her ankles and two tank tops she messily layered because one of them had stretched out straps and didn't hide her bra. This girl walked straight out of Breakfast at Tiffany's and Iris was the female version of Judd Nelson in the Breakfast Club in terms of fashion sense. No wonder she was invisible when she had to compete with this.  
Except the two girls weren't in competition, Iris reminded herself. Clearly Veronica would make more friends more quickly but Iris had to remember what she told Jughead a few days before today: she wanted to make genuine friends, she wanted the real thing from now on.   
Betty began to drag them forward and babble about the school's history but neither Iris nor Veronica listened to a word of it. The two girls followed Betty and looked around both in wonder and boredom, until Veronica cut her off to ask about the extracurricular activities; that was when a boy arrived and answered for Betty.   
Once again Betty took charge of the introductions and while Iris merely nodded and smiled to this stranger, Veronica beamed and immediately pointed out the fact that he was 'gay, thank god!'. He then mentioned Veronica's dad to ask her if the rumors – which Iris never heard anything about apart from the Jughead briefly mentioning it last night – and it seemed to ruin her mood.   
“Hey, I'll leave you to it, alright?” Iris asked the bunch and they all looked at her funny. “I'm famished,” she explained quickly.   
“I'll show you were the cafeteria is,” Betty decided with a tone that allowed no protest from anyone. “Kevin, are you eating with us?” She asked.   
“Is Archie coming?” He asked and Betty frowned in confusion but nodded. “Then yes! I don't know what happened but he got ripped this summer, he has abs now! That's six good reasons to sit with you.”   
Betty merely laughed and patted Kevin's shoulder in amusement before showing the way through the school's empty corridors until they reached a very busy cafeteria. It was like a giant beehive and full of chatter and laughter. Iris wasn't that hungry, but after thinking about Jughead she wanted to see him. He was her only friend here and she hasn't seen him anywhere so far – if luck was on her side she would have some classes in common with him.   
The other kept grabbing food and setting it on their trails until they were full, but Iris had packed a pasta salad this morning just in case she would end up reenacting this scene from Mean Girls where Cady eats alone in the toilets because she doesn't find anyone to have lunch with.  
“I'm covered,” Iris told Betty, touching her arm to get her attention. “I'll see if I can find some people to mingle with,” she announced, going as far as winking to show them all that she was a big girl and would be fine on her own. “See you in class.” Truthfully, she needed a moment alone to breathe.   
Since most tables inside where surrounded by more people than they should and Jughead wasn't much for promiscuity, Iris headed towards the doors and walked around the picnic tables and small gatherings of people sitting on the lawn. It shouldn't be that hard to find a tall boy dressed in all black despite the hot weather and with – on top of it all – a beanie. He seemed so attached to it that she never even questioned its constant presence on his head.   
Eventually Iris and her pasta salad walked toward a more secluded part of the backyard and sure enough, Jughead was there, sitting under a tree to enjoy the shade it provided and typing on his laptop. When did he ever do something else?   
“Thought I'd never find you,” Iris said as a greeting. “But then I thought: where would a melancholic loner sit if he wanted to peacefully eat his lunch?”  
She plopped down on the grass and used her bag to lean against.  
“Congratulations on finding me,” he shot back, closing his laptop and pushing it aside, making it lend on his bag. “You survived to your morning classes?”  
Iris shrugged and opened the lid of her box, digging in as she answered, “They're just classes. The same everywhere.”  
“If you're sitting with me I guess it means you haven't made friends yet,” Jughead sighed like it was exhausting him to have this conversation. “What?” He asked when he spotted the smirk on her face.  
“I met a few people, but I declined the lunch offer. You're pretty thick for a smart person you know?” She asked rhetorically. “But I'm feeling magnanimous so I'll spell it out for you: believe it or not you are my friend, and I like spending time with you.”  
“Who did you meet?” He asked, completely ignoring her last statement.  
“Betty Cooper, her gay friend Kevin and the new girl, Veronica,” Iris answered and shoved a forkful of pasta in her mouth. “She's not half bad.”  
“Who?”  
“Veronica Lodge. She seems nice, I mean- super precious and 'I'm not sitting in the grass because eww nature' kind of nice but trying her best,” Iris tried to explain and most likely failed at getting her point across if Jughead's confused expression said anything.   
Jughead hummed and shrugged it off.  
“We'll see what kind of person she is soon enough,” she declared, using his mysterious voice. “As for the other two, you're lucky star must be with you because you met two of the best people here. You've never met anyone as nice as Betty.”  
She had no trouble believing that.  
“You know, so far I've proven you wrong,” Iris teased him. “I'm not acting as if we never met or wearing a cheerleader I eat lunch with you and no one has so much as looked my way other than Betty whose hob it is to show me around and the two other people who were there to see Betty. I'm a nobody!”  
“I'm pretty positive this isn't something to be happy about,” Jughead dead panned.   
“Veronica is the official new girl. She's so pretty, probably rich – she dresses like she wants to kill people with her good looks - and she seems decided to work her way up the school's social hierarchy. That makes me totally uninteresting,” she explained, still eating her pasta. “If anyone's joining the- what's their name again? The River Vixens? Well, it's her. I'm done being in the limelight, from now on I'll be in the bleachers, cheering with the anonymous crowd. It's better this way.”  
The boy squinted his eyes at her as if he were wondering if she was mentally stable for looking so joyful at the though of being invisible. That was every high school student's worst nightmare. People naturally yearned for greater things, they wanted to make history, to leave a mark.   
But not Iris, of fucking course. And just like that, Jughead grabbed his laptop again, opened a file named ICG and crossed the lines that said New Girl, Popular, River Vixen, and a few others that become utterly irrelevant after what she told him. When he looked up from the screen, she smiled and put down her empty box of pasta salad before pulling her hair out of her face and tying it back with the hairband around her wrist.   
“Jughead?” She asked after a while of him silently staring – or glaring? He had a tendency to accidentally look more stern than he would like.   
His unfocused eyes went back on her and when she was sure to have his attention, Iris offered him a shy smile.  
“You'd tell me if I were annoying you, right? You don't have to deal with me simply because we were writing buddies for a few weeks and I don't know anyone else. I can handle myself if you'd rather me alone.”  
Jughead scoffed and shut his laptop once again.  
“And you say I'm the one being thick?” He asked sarcastically, causing the smile on her face to widen. “I'm not spelling it out for you though,” he warned her and Iris shook her head in amusement.


	5. Chapter 5

The moment Kevin dropped his sandwich and stayed still with his jaw hanging open, all the others knew there was something going on.

“Kev?” Betty inquired with her usual gentle voice, putting down her coke can.

“I knew I'd seen her before!” He exclaimed, looking at each of his friends like he has had this epiphany and waiting for a reaction. They were twenty minutes into their lunch and it came completely out of nowhere so he didn't get anything but confused frowns. “The new girl!”

“Iris, her name's Iris,” Veronica said and everyone nodded.

“Did you meet her in town this summer?” Betty asked, drawing Kevin's attention back to her.

Archie, Veronica, and Betty were now hanging on Kevin's every word, waiting for him to explain.

“I heard she's barely left her house, nobody knew what she looked like until today,” Archie interjected. He placed his guitar down across his thighs.

“No, I didn't see her like that. I saw a picture of her, in my dad's office!” Kevin impatiently told them, enjoying seeing them all gawk and share stunned looks.

“What?” Veronica blurted out with a smile on her face. Gossips on the first day of school, she was _thrilled_.

“You can't tell anyone what I'm about to share, guys,” Kevin warned them, leaning in so nobody else would hear. They all mimicked him. “You know last week there was some police activity by Sweetwater river, right? Well, it's because they found _the bullet_.”

Archie visibly paled and asked with a hesitant voice, “ _The_ bullet? From the shot that was heard on the fourth of July?”

“Yes!”

“Oh my god,” Betty trailed off, looking away. “What does Iris have to do with it?”

“She has to do with it that she's in my dad's file about Jason's death, and moved in two days before it happened. That's weird-”

“She doesn't look shady at all,” Veronica said with a pout and a shrug before returning to eating her cherry tomatoes and stealing some of Betty's fries as though they were old friends.

“I don't know Kev, it's a little quick for us to judge her, we don't know anything about her!” Betty argued and pushed her plate of fries toward Veronica. “I have a good feeling about her.”

“She layers her tank tops, that's suspicious enough for me,” Kevin commented, earning a frank laugh from everyone because _omg_ that was so gay of him to say.

“Where is she? Why didn't she come sit with you?” Archie asked the three others since they are the only ones who talked to her.

“She said she was going to find some people to sit with,” Betty told him.

“That's suspicious,” Kevin said, trying to prove his point.

“No, I think it's brave,” Betty shook her head and Veronica nodded in agreement, silently sucking at her straw and drinking her coke. “How many people do that?”

“No one does that, Betty,” Kevin replied. “She doesn't know anyone but you.”

“Maybe she does,” Archie finally said, earning back the attention of the group. “She can't have spent the whole summer in her room doing nothing, she must have met people. Someone's got to know her.”

“Talking about the newbie?” A shrill voice interrupted the group's little _aparte_. “Why hello,” Cheryl said and gestured Betty to make room for her to sit down across Veronica. “Which one are you? The hermit or the New York girl?” She asked, completely unbothered by the harsh stares she received for her rudeness.

But was Cheryl Blossom really rude? It was a term that seemed only to be applied to people who are usually well-mannered or at the very least somewhat polite toward others, but Cheryl Blossom, from the top of her high horse, seemed to always talk like she were the Queen and everyone else could kiss her feet – if she didn't fear they would stain her Louboutins that is.

“I-” Veronica started with a displeased frown and a look to Betty who nodded. “I'm Veronica Lodge.”

“Oh so you're the one whose dad is in prison,” Cheryl said with her ever so huge smile. “I can't imagine how that feels... I've heard so much good about you! I hope you're coming to the cheer leading tryouts, I'm the captain of the River Vixens this year and I need fresh meat to work with.”

“I'll think about it,” Veronica answered uncomfortably. “Actually, Betty and I were just talking about it, maybe we'll both try out.”

Next to Cheryl, Betty was shaking her head as discreetly as possible and stared down at her empty pate of fries and Cheryl's snapped toward her. She scrunched up her nose as though she had only just realized who she was sitting next to, even though she had asked her to move a minute before that.

“Well, it's open to everyone,” she said with a forced smile. “Maybe you'll do better than last time, right Betty?”

Betty smiled tensely and looked away, meeting Kevin's eyes and concealing a laugh when he rolled her eyes at Cheryl's antics.

“As long as you don't bring the other girl, ugh” Cheryl grunted and stood up, effectively showing her endless legs to everyone. If she wasn't such a cold-hearted succubus, she would be close to perfection.

“What do you mean?” Betty inquired, unable to stop herself from asking even though Cheryl had just been openly rude to her and basically told her she had no chance to make it into the Vixens.

“I saw her sitting in the shade with this creeper Jones,” she said with a slight shrug and brushing her hair before her shoulder. “Talk about a social suicide, lunching with Wednesday Addams on your first day of school. She'd be a poor addition for the Vixen, I don't want her tarnishing our image.”

With that – and a good measure of hip swaying – Cheryl left their table, but not before shooting one last 'you better show up at the tryouts' look to Veronica.

“This girl gives me the chills,” Kevin said as soon as she was out of eavesdrop.

“Care to tell me who _that_ was?” Veronica scoffed, still looking at the ginger walking away. Her question earned a round of deep sighs.

 

*

 

“Who's this?” Iris asked when she saw the same girl stop in her tracks, stare at Jughead and her, then resume walking before repeating the actions in the same order.

She tried to point discreetly toward the tall pale ginger girl whose apparent physical perfection was hard to miss anyway. Her long wavy ginger hair literally cascaded down the front on her left shoulder like a waterfall. She wore high heels and Iris for one couldn't imagine the kind of pain this girl went through if she wore shoes like this on a daily basis, and she didn't even see the point of it because her legs were seemingly endless from were she was watching.

“Why is this ginger goddess staring at me like I'm wearing a rainbow wig?” She insisted when she got no answer.

When her eyes returned to Jughead he wasn't looking at her anymore like he did seconds before when they were talking, he was looking at the girl. His mouth was twisted in an unpleasant way and he was clearly glaring daggers at the girl.

“Have you ever seen The Devil Wears Prada?” He asked. “And don't think about denying it, every girl has watched this movie,” he added before Iris has a chance to say anything.

“Then why do you ask?” Iris rolled her eyes and sat up straight. A little smirk appeared on the corner of Jughead's mouth and his attention was back on her as quickly as it left before. “I've seen it. Once or twice.”

More like a good dozen times, but this was irrelevant to the conversation and Iris held onto what little dignity she had.

“Well, Cheryl certainly saw it more than 'once or twice',” Jughead snickered and made sure Iris could hear the quotation marks in his voice. “And she took it literally.”

Iris titled er head and smiled softly, as though she was trying to read between the lines and see if Jughead was simply messing with her.

“You're exaggerating!” She exclaimed. “She can't be _that_ bad.”

His eyebrows shot up in a rather comical manner.

“I mean- right?” She added a bit less confident in her former statement. “She looks like-”

“-freakin' Satan in a pair of shorts,” Jughead cut her off and mumbled under his breath. “If you try out for the Vixens you'll see for yourself.”

“You're not pushing me to become a Vixen just because you have this image of me being a pale imitation of this girl and want to be proven right, do you?” Iris asked dryly, her tongue clicking against her cheek.

Jughead's hands fell each side of him and he stopped looking at her, almost like it was too hard to lie while making eye contact. It surprised her, he seemed like the type of person who served casual white lies on a daily basis, if only to be left alone to write or the typical 'are you okay' 'yeah' when really, he wasn't okay. More often than not, Iris wondered if he got any sleep at all and she had to bite back the question for fear of being rude. She had a feeling that if she ever let him close down on himself, he'll never open up to her again. Not that he had so far.

“Not my style,” he said with a small smile that Iris suspected he was only giving her to drift her attention from his previous sentence and move on from this conversation.

“Are you going to Pop's after school?” She asked, if only because it made Jughead so blatantly uncomfortable to talk about his internal struggle to put Iris in a box.

She wasn't looking at him, her schedule was resting on her lap for display and she studied it intently, not wanting to have to pull it out of her pocket every five minutes because she was lost of something.

“I have to go home first, I forgot my charger,” he answered just as distractedly as Iris asked the question.

To anyone who could have listened to the conversation, it must have sounded like they weren't even paying attention to what the other said, but in reality they ere weighing out every single word and purposely not making eye contact.

“Okay, I can pick you up from there if you want?” She suggested out of sheer kindness. She didn't see him shudder and look up and continued talking. “I also have to make a brief stop at my house but since I go with my car anyway I might as well give you a ride when I go there.”

“It's fine, I can walk,” Jughead replied. He blushed a bit – thank goodness she was still glaring at her schedule since she saw she had PE this afternoon.

“Nonsense. I have a car, you have my number, text me your address,” Iris answered with unfaltering logic. “If that's not- overstepping a boundary?” She said it like a question though it wasn't supposed to be one.

Jughead was constantly amazed – and by amazed he meant utterly astounded – that even after all those weeks and despite looking fresh a morning dew, Iris always seemed so unsure of herself. In most matters she was okay and rather bold but sometimes Jughead caught her in a moment of self-doubt. Today seemed to be filled of those, since she only just told him that he didn't have to hang out with her if he didn't want to moments ago, only to serve him this one now. He would have laughed if it wasn't to obvious she wasn't joking at all.

She could have told him to meet her at the other end of the town and Jughead would have walked all the way; she could have told him she wanted to do something else than go to Pop's tonight and chances are Jughead would have skipped his daily black coffee with two sugars at the Chock' Lit Shoppe; she could have said anything and Jughead would have said amen. Probably. It cost him literally nothing to admit it to himself that she had grown on him, but hell if he was ever going to say it out loud, he had a reputation to uphold.

“Yeah right, I'll text you, you just tell me when you're ready to go,” he finally answered, not even giving enough credit to her moment of hesitation to respond to her question. She knew it was a silly question, but it fell from her lips before she could swallow it back. It caused a huge smile to spread her face and it did things inside Jughead. He felt proud of making her smile, even if he didn't do anything special.

“I can't wait to see your house. You spend so much time at Pop's that I began to wonder if you weren't living there,” she laughed lightheartedly, feeling like an invisible weigh had been lifted from her chest. “Well, I better get going and see if I can find Betty and Veronica. I still don't know where half of my classes are and there's no way I'm wandering the hallways alone like a lost puppy.”

Jughead nodded and grabbed his laptop just as Iris walked away – he still had half an hour before his next class and he wanted to get some more writing done. Iris calmly strutted back towards the cafeteria and let her eyes scan the dispersing crowd to see if she could find Betty's high ponytail or Veronica's shiny pearl necklace somewhere. It wasn't too difficult since the girls were waiting for her next to the doors, chatting and laughing about something a tall ginger boy just said. How many gingers lived here? However small Riverdale was, it certainly exceeded the usual percentage of gingers.

Once she reached them, Betty smiled as though Iris was the sun and stars and just illuminated her life by inviting herself into the conversation. She introduced the boy as being Archie and by the way her eyes linger on him as little longer than necessary, Iris understood that she was into him – then by the way Veronica smirked at her, Iris knew she saw it too. They all walked inside and split up after Betty told Archie she still had some touring to do.

“Betty!” Veronica stretched her name to no end and gave her a playful nudge. “This is one fine looking ginger.”

“Archie?” Betty asked, feigning to be shocked at the sheer thought of him as 'fine looking'. “Oh, pff,” she dismissed Veronica's comment with a wave of the hand. “We've been friends since- well, forever. He's my best friend, that's all.”

“You don't look at your friends like they are eye-candy,” Iris laughed with Veronica and Betty's cheek turned a light shade of pink. “Why don't you make a move before Kevin tries to steal him?”

“Oh please!” Veronica giggled. “Archie is so straight I saw Kevin's gayness shrink back when we sat down. Did you find anyone to eat with by the way?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Iris said. “I sat by the big tree over there, with Jughead.”

“I'm sorry, who?” Veronica asked, obviously startled by the name.

“Jughead,” Betty repeated before Iris had a chance to. “He's a friend of Archie's- I think- I mean, they had an argument this summer so I don't know really.” She seemed lost in her thoughts all of a sudden. “I haven't talked to him in a while now, he became distant over the last couple years but we were pretty close when we were younger. How'd you convince him to let you sit with him?”

“I didn't ask, I just sat down.”

Iris shrugged to throw them off and make it look like it was no big deal – she wasn't necessarily keen on letting them know she had befriended Jughead during summer and simply avoided any order interaction with people of her age. The mood had changed and grown significantly more tense – did Iris just suck the joy out of the room simply by being there? The others looked like they were having fun until she interrupted them.

“Oooh!” Veronica sing sang and bolted forward. “I know how you can talk to Archiekins!” She was beaming when she grabbed a poster and ripped it off the wall to show Betty what it said.

A date and “HOMECOMING” in big fat bold letters with lots of glitter and using only the colors of Riverdale High.

“I love balls, we can get ready together and you still have a whole week to ask him to come with you,” Ronnie kept on talked, making hand gesture to draw a vivid image of what this evening could be like while Betty and Iris uncomfortably glanced at each other, between fear and embarrassment.

A dance. A freakin' dance. Iris had to find a way out of this one and make up an excuse, because there was no way in hell she was going to spend her birthday surrounded by dancing idiots and couples looking at one another like love struck puppies.

 


	6. Chapter 6

Iris was in her room to change into something a little more comfortable before going to Pop's when the familiar jingle of her phone interrupted her train of thought. It took her a good thirty seconds to shake the duvet of her bed to find her phone; it hit the floor and she picked it up, looking at the incoming message. It was Jughead's address, very factual, nothing else. The girl slipped into her shoes and grabbed her laptop before rushing downstairs. She entered the address in her GPS while walking to her car and drove there without thinking much about where the hell it was taking her.

Luckily for her, Jughead was already waiting outside, leaned against the low brick wall surrounding the property. Behind him stood a big old-looking house with a bush of roses to the left of the front porch and a rusty-looking garage door to the right. The neighborhood seemed calm, almost deserted – the house next door was empty according to the 'for sale' sign planted in the front lawn.

Without so much as a hello, Jughead jumped in Iris' pickup and merely smiled a little before she drove off. It wasn't until they were sitting at their booth and ordered their dinner that they began to talk. Jughead made a visible effort to ask Iris about her day but she remained very evasive. They talked between moments of inspiration during which the silence was only disturbed by the sound of their fingers hitting the keyboards.

“Hey, I have a question. It's stupid and I think I already know the answer but I'll still ask just to be sure,” she blurted out, pushing her laptop to the right and pulling her hamburger in front of her.

His eyebrows shot up in curiosity and Iris took this as her cue.

“You aren't going to the Homecoming dance by any chance, are you?” She asked – now realizing it sounded even dumber out loud than in her head.

“You know how teachers say that there's no such thing as a stupid question, only stupid answers? Well you just proved them all wrong,” Jughead simply said then went back to typing his novel.

“I take it it's a no?” Iris scoffed. “That's what I thought. Never mind, I guess I'll just suck it up and brood on my own when Betty and Veronica drag me there.”

“Don't go.”

“Come again?” Iris frowned.

“If you don't want to go, then don't,” Jughead said with a little shrug. It wasn't that complicated really.

“Hey listen-” Iris began as she leaned over the table, her hands joined in front of her. “-I know you have this whole moody anti-social edgy author vibe going on, but if a girl doesn't want to fall into the dark abyss of anonymity, she's got to go out and make friends – you understand this, right?”

“Yes, thank you, I actually understand a lot of things,” he fired back at her, squinting his eyes at her upon hearing her condescending tone. “Just don't see the point of it. If you don't enjoy their company why would you want to be friends with them? Besides, High School friendships don't last.”

“Oh Jug,” Iris laughed faintly. She saw Jughead suppress a little smile when she used the nickname. “I never said I don't enjoy their company, I said that I prefer yours. As for the High School friendships that don't last, you're just saying this to reassure yourself because you're already picturing what kind of nightmare your life could turn into if I decided to tag along after this.”

“You see right through me,” he snorted but looked away from her as though he had no witty come back to answer to that. “Are you going to eat this burger?”

“Of course I'm gonna eat it, that's why I ordered it! Hands off,” Iris slapped away Jughead's hand before he could put it on her food and they laughed.

“Out of all the girls out there who eat salad I had to get the one who actually eats her junk food and doesn't just buy it for the show!” He faked to complain and rolled his eyes at her. Iris took a huge bite of her burger.

She didn't comment on his phrasing, mostly because her mouth was full but also because she didn't really mind how that last sentence sounded when he said it.

Their evening at Pop's lasted well into the night, until Iris had wrapped up all of her homework and Jughead decided he was stuck on one particular sentence and couldn't write anymore. She offered to help him but he refused to show her his writing. She wanted to drop him off at his house again but he insisted on walking – he said he liked walking in the empty streets at night, said it cleared his mind. Iris nodded and bid him goodnight before driving out of the parking lot and into the night.

 

*

 

Iris put tremendous effort into finding a routine and sticking to it. She woke up, went on her walk in the forest – sometimes her jogging along Sweetwater river – and return home to get ready for class. She drove there early because she didn't like coming short before the bell rang – Iris was psychotically early everywhere she went, arriving late was just not an option. She sat Indian style on a picnic table outside the building until Betty & co arrived. Veronica was the friendliest one thought Betty tried really hard to be nice and to include her it felt a bit artificial while Veronica simply grabbed her by the arm and talked to her like they've known one another their whole life.

It was rather unsettling but not unwelcome. Iris needed someone like Veronica in her life, someone outgoing and loud. That's how Iris used to be in Chicago. They bonded over this, their common feeling of being a fish out of the water in this ridiculously small town were drama took daunting proportions.

One thing they did not bond over was Veronica's love for fashion. She would not let Iris live down the fact that she wore layered tank tops on her first day thought Iris couldn't care any less if she tried.

Also, there was Kevin. Iris didn't get why he was so wary of her because he was the kind of person she liked. He was funny, kind, a real gossip machine and always up for anything. Why he didn't like her was beyond her – he got along just fine with Veronica. But Iris wasn't going to cry on her fate, she was accepted as part of the group, Archie was cool, Betty was kind, Veronica was both of these things – she could deal with Kevin giving her the stink eye. Jughead remained her number one choice of crime partner.

Mmh, poor choice of words, but you get it.

Fast forward one week, two things happened. One, Betty and Veronica were both Archie's date for some reason – when Iris heard that one she thought it best not to ask questions. And two, she was sitting in Veronica's bedroom, being thrown several outfits at while Betty laughed. Of course she laughed, she already had her dress, but Iris thought she could just show up with a fancy shirt and pants. For a brief second she thought Veronica was going to faint.

“No,” she said firmly. “I'm not letting you do this. Take off your clothes.”

“But-”

“No buts!” Veronica exclaimed. She was already facing her wardrobe and not looking at Iris who plopped down on her bed with a defeated sigh. “We'll turn you into freaking Cinderella, I'm telling you! I'd sooner die than let my friends go to a dance in _pants_.”

Iris couldn't tell if she purposely played the friendship cart to make her docile or if it naturally came out, but either way it worked and she shut up and accepted her fate. When Veronica was done throwing dresses at her, Iris could barely see over the huge pile of clothes in her arms.

“Try these on,” Veronica ordered.

“Why don't I tell you which ones are of the table right away,” Iris suggested, laughing uncomfortably as she lifting the first dress to have a good look at it. “For example this one is way too short. And this one-” she grabbed another one. “-is better in terms of length but too tight. I wanna be able to wear underwear, Ronnie.”

“What are you saying you have an amazing body, if you don't wear something short or tight it's all going to waste!” She protested, looking at Betty for support.

“Betty does too and her dress isn't tight or short,” Iris said, making Betty blush.

To be nice and to honor Veronica's attempt at dressing her up, Iris still tried on a few dresses. Each of them were magnificent, soft and delicate – in other words expensive – and definitely Veronica's style, but none fit Iris' shape and taste.

“Don't you have something a little more like Betty's dress?” Iris asked. “Not pink, but flaring I mean. I'm not comfortable showing my butt-” Veronica opened her mouth to argue but Iris quickly cut her off “-however amazing it looks.”

S bright smile illuminated her face and the girls returned it with a gentle, accepting smile. She won this round. While the two of them rummage through Veronica's gigantic wardrobe to try and find something more Iris-like, she checked her phone.

She merely wanted to know what time it was, but Iris was a little disappointed to see that Jughead hadn't texted her. He told her he would be a text away from her all evening if she needed to vent or something. He was nowhere to be seen today at school and she hadn't heard from him since yesterday.

It was Friday night, meaning that he should be working at the Drive-in, but since the dance took precedence over any other Friday night activity he wasn't working tonight. He'd be at Pop's, drinking too much coffee and not seeing the time fly or even remembering he promises to text her because he was too caught up in his novel. Iris smiled to herself and shoved her phone back into her bag. They decided to go with Archie since he was... their date – even thinking it was weird. Iris would go alone in her car, which was probably for the best since she didn't plan on staying too long.

 

*

 

It was a total disaster. There were too many people and not nearly enough booze to make it bearable. Actually there was no booze at all which was terrible. Veronica and Kevin danced together while giving pointed looks to Betty who slow danced with Archie. The poor boy seemed as uncomfortable as he could get and Betty so nervous she was a second away from melting onto the floor. Then it turned even worse because Betty actually gave in to her friends insistent stares of encouragement and confessed to Archie. Needless to say it did not turn out the way she had hoped or the way Veronica expected.

God, Iris really wished she had thought about bringing her own flask of vodka. If her self-esteem was just a little lower she could have hit on some guys of the football team – this Mantle kid looked like the kind to bring booze to a no-booze party.

“Betty!” Iris called for the blond girl.

She was beautiful tonight with her hair down and her pastel pink dress, but her sweetest wasn't enough to win over her ginger best friend. With tears in her eyes she ran away from him and out of the dancing crowd.

“Betty wait!” Iris tried again, running after her – or rather walking as fast as her heels allowed her to. “Betty, please!”

She finally stopped and waited Iris. Veronica followed soon after.

“What happened? Everything was going so well!” Ronnie began to say before seeing Betty's expression. “He's an ass if he rejected you.”

She had good intentions but it clearly wasn't what Betty wanted to hear in this moment.

“Betty, are you alright? Are you gonna be okay?” Iris inquired though the look in her eyes answered that question for her. “Do you want me to drive you back?”

It wasn't completely disinterested – this would provide her with a valid excuse to take the French leave and escape from this hell of a party that turn sour real quick. It wasn't even eleven.

“No, you don't have to, I can walk home.” Betty shook her head while holding back her tears. She was probably waiting to be alone to cry, Iris couldn't blame her.

“Believe me neither of us want to stay here,” said said in a humorless laugh. “Get in the car Betty. Let's get you home.”

“Do you want me to come with you?” Veronica asked gently, rubbing a comforting hand on Betty's shoulder.

“No, you stay here and have fun for the two of us,” she told her, forcing a smile on her face. “If at least one of us makes the most of the night, this party won't be a total loss.”

A little distraught and torn between supporting her new friend and wanting the stay, Veronica ended up nodded slowly and stepped away. The moment Betty opened the door to Iris' pick up, Archie came out but Ronnie grabbed his arm and dragged him back inside while the girls drove away – no more harm would be done tonight, not under a Lodge's watch.

After making sure Betty would be alright, Iris left but not without an ultimate hug and wave goodbye. Somewhere between absent-mindedness and desire to finally start this party, Iris drove to Pop's directly, no hook by her house.

She was tired, done with this depressing party, and in great need of some good company to finish the night. When she parked in front of Pop's there was only one other car. Iris kicked off her stupid high heels and grabbed the Converses she took care of throwing on the backseat before leaving earlier that day.

Jughead choked on his coffee when she walked in and Pop stopped cleaning the counter to stare in confusion. It was legitimate, she must have been quite a sight with her Converses, her fluffy tulle midi dress and the denim jacket she threw on because it was cold. Jughead must have been wondering why a hipster Tinkerbell was walking toward him.

“Don't say anything,” Iris warned him when he opened his mouth.

She sat down at her usual place across from him, only this time she had to pat down her overly puffy dress that simply wouldn't fit under the table. Jughead was still frowning and wondering what the hell was going on when Iris reached out and stole his sundae from under his nose. She angrily dug in it with the spoon.

“You're not asking me how the dance was?” She snapped though she was not mad at him.

“Is it necessary?” Jughead replied. “I have a strong feeling it was a catastrophe. Why don't we- hold on, give me that-” he told her before reclaiming his ice cream. Jughead looked over at Pop and then back at Iris and her puffy pale dress and her unmade hairstyle. “-you need to get your mind off of it.”

“And I have an idea for that!” She said, smiling for the first time since she came through the door.

“I'm sure you do,” Jughead laughed and pushed his laptop out of the way. “But first let me try something.”

“Wha-”

Her question was cut short by Pop placing a huge cup of ice cream with extra whipped cream and a cherry. And a candle.

“Well- happy birthday I guess.”

His voice betrayed him a little – he wasn't in his comfort zone here, and it was this much more meaningful that he went out of his way to surprise her. A shy smile stretched his lips and before Iris had a chance to say anything, he stole the cherry on her ice cream and winked.

 


	7. Chapter 7

“Okay-“ Iris trailed off, stretching the last syllable while squinting her eyes at Jughead. This wasn’t exactly what she expected when she came here. It was the opposite of what she expected honestly. “Now would be a good time to tell me how you know that information about me that I told absolutely no one,” she ended up saying.

“I hacked into your computer and stole all confidential data it contained,” Jughead said. His tone was sarcastic enough to leave no doubt about the fact that he didn’t, in fact, hack into her laptop. “No dummy, I saw it one your ID when you forgot it at Pop’s, remember?” He chuckled, enjoying Iris’ frown of confusion.

This incident had completely slipped her mind and she was stunned that he remember the date of her birthday even though at the time he found her ID they were barely acquaintances and nowhere near being friends yet.

“You don’t call people dummies on their birthday,” she simply said, crossing her arms on her chest. A stern yet playful spark illuminated her eyes as she gave Jughead a pointed look. “But thank you. For remembering, and for the ice cream. Care to share?”

“I wasn’t going to let you eat that all alone anyway,” he scoffed, faking to be offended that she even considered this possibility. “Make your damn wish so we can dig in.”

Iris’ gaze softened and a coy smile stretched her lips. Jughead identified the look on her face as a mix of sadness and fondness, and he couldn’t quite comprehend why these two emotions surfaced now. What did he say?

“I don’t believe in candle wishes, Jug,” she told him in a hushed tone. She sounded like someone who had been hugely disappointed in the past regarding wishes. “If I really want something, I go get it, I don’t wish on a star or a candle or because it’s 11:11,” she explained before blowing out the candle.

“On this joyful note, I suggest we eat,” Jughead said to change the subject.

“Yeah, sorry about my mood it’s been a long night,” Iris said with emphasis on the ‘long’. They both grabbed their spoons and started eating the mountain of ice cream in front of them. “I’ll fill you in later.”

“Later?” Jughead asked. “What do you wanna do later, I thought this was ‘later’?”

“No way I’m finishing the night sober,” Iris declared. “We take my car, go somewhere else and I’m not letting you leave before we finish my entire emergency pack of beer,” she said without leaving him a choice.

“Should I be worried that you have an emergency pack of beer in your car?”

“It does come in handy,” she nodded her head thoughtfully.

“Hey,” Jughead said to get her attention, his spoon still in his mouth. He played with it before sticking it out and taking a bit more of the chocolate chip ice cream. “I have to say- your outfit is on point tonight.” He chuckled when he saw the outrage on Iris’ face.

“Oh my god, shut up!”

 

*

 

As promised, Iris and Jughead went on their night drive the second they finished Iris’ monstrous birthday ice cream. She drove them but Jughead decided of the destination. Since she intended to get hammered and won’t be able to drive them back, they shouldn’t get out of town. In the end they settled for the Twilight since it was closed and Jughead had the keys – they could have their very own private projection and sit in the back of the pick-up.

They decided to watch Pulp Fiction but in the end they didn’t pay much attention to the movie and simply sat in the car, happily buzzed after a couple beers each. At some point Iris must have decided she was drunk and high enough to tell him tonight’s events.

“Betty spent the whole dance trying to subtly drop hints to Archie - who was too busy drooling over Veronica to realize his best friend is in love with him. Meanwhile Veronica clearly has a crush on sweet Betty and is trying really hard not to stomp on Archie's foot for being the lucky oblivious guy he is and I somehow ended up stuck in the middle of this infernal love triangle,” Iris explained as best she could without taking a breath and with grand hand gestures.

Jughead merely sat there, jaw hanging slightly open, eyes wide, listening intently to every word.

“I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but this thing switches off my brain to mouth filter-” she once again brought the joint to her lips. “-and I haven't known your friends long enough to feel guilty about spilling out some juicy info.”

“Everything you just said is wrong,” Jughead scoffed. “I don't know Veronica, I don't speak to Archie anymore and Betty I just know because she's lived here her whole life. And my _classmates_ ' romantic interests hardly classify as juicy info.”

“You're too hard on everyone, you know? That includes yourself. I'm sure if I asked Betty she'd say you're her friend, no second thought.”

“Yeah coz she's nice to everyone!” Jug's voice showed signs of annoyance now. “If I'm too cynical for you why don't you go back to the party and hang out with Mrs & Mrs Perfect?”

“I'm not interested in befriending people who are friends with just anyone. And in case I'm still being too subtle about it: I mean that I'd rather spend my time bickering back and forth with you than to hear one more conversation about Archie and his abs.”

“Is that really what girls talk about during their no boys allowed conversations? It's quite disappointing, I was hoping for something more thrilling, less predictable.”

“If it was up to me we wouldn't talk about any of Archie's body parts,” Iris said in a laugh which made her snort faintly, consequently stopping the laughter.

“Good to now,” Jughead simply commented. Clearly he was done talking about this. “Am I high or is there no sound to this movie?” He asked Iris, pointing at the giant screen.

“Yes to both, the sound's been off for ten minutes now,” she told him and started giggling for no apparent reason. “And I'm high too!”

“High enough to spill out all the shit you think of the people you've met so far,” Jughead pointed out. It made her feel bad all of a sudden, like he just flipped a switch inside her and her mood drastically changed. “Never thought you were one of those people.”

“I'm not! I'm trying not to be... anymore,” Iris protested, handing the joint over to Jughead. He distractedly took it but didn't bring it to his lips. “I didn't sign up for this shit,” Iris breathed out almost inaudibly but Jughead caught it.

She was referring to the beginning of drama that sparked tonight. Jughead let out a humorous chuckle before taking the joint from her hand.

“That's not how it works. If you want friends you've got to take it all, the good, the bad, the worse. You don't get to pick.”

“Please don't tell me you get all philosophical and deep when you're high,” she groaned.

“I wouldn't know, I've never smoked before tonight, not even a cigarette,” he chuckled.

Iris sat up straight and quickly retrieved the joint from between Jughead's lips right before he could take another drag, only to throw it away.

“What?” She squeaked out. “You should have told me! How many drags did you take?”

“I don't know? Two?”

“Ah,” she let out a relieved sigh. “How long in between?”

“How am I supposed to know that?” He grumbled – he played grumpy now that he took away his source of amusement. “Five, maybe ten minutes?”

“Good, when it's your first time you should wait a good ten minutes between each drag or you'll end up throwing up your guts.”

“Lovely.”

“Hey!” She said in excitement, already clutching his arm.

“I have no idea what you're about to say but I know I won't like it,” Jughead mumbled, letting himself drop against the car again.

“You Jughead Jones are the biggest buzz-kill I have ever met in my life!” She laughed. He scoffed but his lips were twisted in an amused half smile. “Okay, no drinking anymore for me tonight or I'll never be able to walk through the woods.”

“The woods? You want to go take a midnight walk in the forest while there's an abductor – and potential killer – on the loose?” Jughead asked her, dumbfounded. “No weed for you anymore either.”

“I already threw it away anyway,” Iris said. “And yes, I want to go to the river. It's my birthday you can't refuse me anything!”

“It's half past midnight, your birthday's been over for thirty minutes now,” he deadpanned but Iris didn't laugh. “Yeah, yeah whatever you want. We'll go to the river, but don't tell me I'm a buzz-kill anymore!”

She smiled and gently bumped hr shoulder against his.

“It's a terrible idea by the way. We're probably going to die painfully and slowly,” he declared dramatically.

“At least we'll end with a bang, not a whimper,” Iris giggled as she slid off the car and onto the floor. She tested her balance and seemed to be doing fine.

“T.S.Eliot probably does a back flip in his grave every time someone uses this quote incorrectly.”

“I know it's not the right quote, but in this situation I needed it to be this way around.”

She gestured him to follow her and once Jughead stood next to her, she looped her hand around his elbow and together they began to walk towards the edge of the forest. Neither of them knew how to get to Sweetwater river from the drive-in. They walked in a comfortable silence and followed the sound of the water hitting the rocks.

Iris' impractical dress sometimes got caught in bushes and stray branches – she tried to handle it with care since it was Veronica's, but it might already be too late. Same goes for her shoes which were slightly more brown than white at this point. She was a bit cold too but that wasn't a problem, Iris' excitement kept her warm.

“What's with your obsession with this river?” Jughead asked.

“I had never been to a river before. I'm a city girl remember? When I opened the window I heard car honks, not birds chirping.”

“You know most people living in small towns would sell their souls to leave this place and go to a big city, right?” Jughead said.

Iris stopped walking to answer him while looking him in the eyes.

“I'd gladly trade places with them. Moving here was difficult of course, I had friends, I had habits, a favorite coffee shop and a spot in the park where I liked to sit and do homework during sunny days – but everything was artificial. _I_ was artificial. I like myself better since I've moved here. And I love watching the river and listening to the water running.”

“In the middle of the night?”

“Yes. I've never been at this time of day. Come now.” She grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the path. “I think we're almost there.”

“There where?”

“Shh,” she hushed him. “For once in your life, stop talking. Even when you were all broody at our booth when we first met you couldn't keep your mouth shut.”

“ _Touché_ ,” he said and clasped his free hand over his heart.

He realized they were now walking along the bank of the river and although he wasn't going to admit it, it was a very nice spot at night. There was something slightly off though, Jughead couldn't quite place his finger on it. The feeling didn't go away during the follow ten minutes of silence it took them to reach a place he finally recognized.

“Are you _crazy_?” Jughead asked in a whisper. He didn't know why he whispered but it felt wrong to talk out loud. He had pulled on Iris' hand to make her stop walking and she practically fell backwards but he caught her. “We shouldn't be here!”

She had brought them to the bullet tree. They had already been questioned once for hanging out there and Sheriff Keller grilled them and gave them his scolding paternal stare for being on a crime scene late at night. And that was the first time.

“It's a good spot and I've been here again since I found the bullet. They took it, now there's only a hole in the tree,” she told him along with a sad wince. “I promise there's no risk of being caught here.”

“You're a little bit intense you know? And that's coming from me,” Jughead told her, still not letting her go.

Iris placed her other hand over Jughead's and smiled softly, in a way that made it hard to believe she wasn't sober. For a brief second, Jughead thought she might have acted drunk before and actually wasn't.

“Never change anything,” he added with a grin. Iris smiled bigger and when his grip on her loosened she led them to their bullet tree. “I don't know who you were before coming to Riverdale but I like this version of you, so- I'm sure you changed for the better.”

“You like it?” She asked.

Iris said 'it' but they both heard 'me'. He didn't answer but his expression seemed to be eloquent enough. They didn't know why but they suddenly became hyper aware of the fact that they were still holding hands. Iris was the first to let go when the tension became unbearable. She turned around and made her way through the bushes and to the flat rocks next to the tree where she wanted to sit. The torrent was stronger here and louder.

Jughead was taken aback – he usually wasn't the one who craved contact, which made it all the more surprising that Iris pulled away. He sat down close enough to her that they arms and legs were touching. Iris didn't seem to mind and even leaned a bit against him, but this coziness was of limited duration. The warmth they found in each other was swept away by the scream that pierced the silence and made them jerk away from each other and jump to their feet.

“What the hell?” Iris cursed.

“We have to get away from here!” Jughead said, grabbing Iris' arm and pulling it.

“What?! No! What if someone's being attacked!”

“We'll call the cops, but we can't stay here! We don't know what's going on,” he insisted. If he were alone he would have gone but Iris and her tendency to dive head first in dangerous situations made him feel like it was his responsibility to keep her safe. Which was insane.

“No, Jughead!” Iris ripped her arm out of his grasp. “I'm going.”

“Okay, okay, I'll come with you. But we don't do anything stupid,” he warned her. “I'm going to regret this.”

Iris and Jughead silently ran through the woods, trying to find the source of the scream that made their hairs stand on end. Suddenly, she felt herself being pulled back again and Iris' back knocked against Jughead's chest. Just when she was about to ask what was going on he put his hand over her mouth.

“Don't say anything,” he whispered. “Look, down there.”

He carefully withdrew his hand from her mouth when he was sure she would stay quiet and she leaned over to see what he was talking about. She had to bite on her hand to muffle a scream and Jughead pulled her once again to his chest to keep her out of sight.

Down by the river, a few meters away from them, there was Kevin and Moose, shirtless on the ground and right in front of them, the visibly dead body of a young ginger man – whom Iris identified as Jason Blossom.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Do you realize that it's already chapter 7 and we only just reached the end of episode 1 in GMTA's timeline??? Rest assured that I won't follow everything of the Riverdale plot, there will be no Polly, this will strictly revolve around Jughead and Iris. But I needed to place them in context, and as you can see “placing in context” in my language means “writing a little less then 20k worth of 'introduction'.”


	8. Chapter 8

“What do we do?” Iris asked in a shaky voice, still unsure of what she saw.

Could her eyes play tricks on her? Could it be the weed? She hadn't smoke nearly enough to hallucinate the dead body of a boy whose appearance she didn't even know. In their state of shock, the two teenagers instinctively sought comfort in each other's presence and Iris could fairly say that she had never been this physically close to Jughead in all the weeks they spent together.

“Should we show ourselves?” She asked when she didn't get an answer the first time. “Maybe they need help.”

“No,” Jughead snapped. His arm was still around Iris' middle, preventing her from attempting to walk away. “Kevin's the Sheriff's son, he'll call him. They are in no danger, we should go now or we'll get in trouble.”

“But-” Iris began as she turned around to look at Jughead.

“I said no, Iris,” Jughead repeated. His eyes were stern, his body stiff in a way that alarmed Iris. “Not to sound dramatic, but I think you severely underestimate the situation. We could get in serious trouble if somebody sees us here. I don't want to spend the night in custody for the murder of Jason Blossom.”

The girl remained quiet but Jughead saw that she wanted to protest by the way she pouted and glared at him.

“It's the second time we are on a crime scene, it's beyond suspicious at this point!”

“Are you saying I'm your suspect number one now?” She whispered angrily, her voice lace with venom like never before. “I know I'm on your list, Jug, I'm not stupid.”

A sigh fell from his lips. Now wasn't the time to argue. Nor the place.

“That's not what I- never mind,” Jughead said. “We need to leave. Immediately,” he insisted when he saw Iris open her mouth – probably to protest and argue further or tell him to go fuck himself.

He didn't care what she had to say right now, all he wanted to do was go as far away from Sweetwater river as possible before the first police cars arrived. She would thank him later for no letting her drunken, high self get involved in a murder case.

“Stop! Stop!” Iris almost shouted out loud and pulled on Jughead's arm to make him stop but he was stronger than her.

“Why don't you scream louder so they'll hear us!” Jug asked in a disdainful scoff as he turned his head around.

“I might do it you don't let me go!” She warned him and dug her heels in the ground. “We are not leaving.”

“You're a reckless little brat!” Jughead accused her with his pointer finger.

“And you're a selfish coward!” She replied. “How can you leave Kevin alone with a corpse! You've known him all your life, was it wrong with you?!”

“If I'm not good enough for you fine! Go! You're the one who's been acting all clingy since day one, I never forced you to hang out with me!”

He was being unfair and he knew it but the words wouldn't stop spilling out of his mouth until hurt was painted all over Iris' face. She stepped back – and thus realized Jughead had let go of her somewhere during his hateful comment. It was ironic how she had fled a party because there was too much drama, only to be swept off her feet by yet another drama shitstorm.

“Do you realize how nasty that was of you?” Iris asked. “Because it really was. All I'm saying is that we should wait around until we're sure this is being taken care of. I know it's not our problem but I thought you might be on board – if not for your friend, at least for your bloody novel!”

“Kevin's no-”

“I know,” she cut him off. “He's not your friend. No one is. I get it, and I'll fuck off as soon as this is over since I'm so clingy.”

Not another word was uttered between the two of them until the cops arrived, quickly followed by the Coopers and the Blossoms – who Iris only recognized because the first were standing behind Betty and the latter had the same fiery ginger hair as Cheryl and her late twin.

“I'm getting out of the dark, do what you want,” Iris briefly informed Jughead and she only heard an exasperated sigh coming from him before she walked away. How can one be so stubborn and self-centered?

Soon enough, all of her classmates were gathered around the crime scene, each of them harboring various expression of shock and grief on their face, but all noticing Iris step out of the shadow with her puffy dress and dirty shoes.

They share this look of wariness but their empty eyes quickly darted back on the body the coroner was taking away. Iris could feel the tension prickling in the air between Betty and Archie and the sadness emanating from Cheryl who couldn't even muster up tears at the moment. Veronica stood aside with her mom and when she saw Iris she discreetly scooted closer until her arm was around her shoulders.

“This is a hell of a Homecoming night,” she said gently, not a trace of humor in her voice. “I think we all deserve a break after the last twenty four hours.”

“Yeah, couldn't agree more,” Iris answered distractedly. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the two boys leaning against the Sheriff's car. Moose was in the middle of a lengthy explanation while Kevin's eyes were set on... Iris.

“Why is Kevin staring a hole in your head?” Veronica asked just when Iris wondered the same.

“I don't know,” she said with a frown. “I don't think he likes me.”

“Nonsense,” she replied immediately. “There's nothing to dislike about you, besides you barely talked to him.”

Her hand was still reassuringly stroking her back and Iris had to wonder: what was Veronica trying to comfort her for?

 

*

 

“Did you- eh- did you do something to Jughead?” Someone asked from behind Iris, making her jump away from her locker.

Her heart was racing when she turned around and met Archie Andrews' worried gaze. He looked distraught and small despite his large shoulders and varsity jacket.

“Do something?” She frowned and put her last book in her bag. “Like what? Kill him in his sleep or talk badly of his beanie?”

“I don't know, but like- he's been acting... weird,” Archie said, seemingly not satisfied with his choice of word.

“And Jughead acting weird is weird because...?” She encouraged him.

“He's more aggressive and I noticed you ate alone at lunch,” he told her with a shrug.

A week had passed since the discovery of Jason Blossom's body and Iris found it slightly funny that Archie only noticed now that she and Jughead hadn't spoken a word to each other – and were apparently a bit grumpier than usual. Even she couldn't deny she was in a mood since their argument.

“We had a small disagreement, nothing unfixable,” Iris reassured Archie despite not having any certainty. She figured it was enough to get him off her back, but even oblivious Archie seemed to see through her act of carelessness.

In all honesty, so many things happened in a week that making up with Jughead seemed like it should be the least of Iris' priorities at the moment. The police investigation, Betty having a breakdown because Archie doesn't return her feelings, Cheryl being arrested for the murder of her own twin brother, Veronica running here and there in hopes to win back Betty's friendship after her little misconduct in the closet with a certain ginger boy. The atmosphere at school was sizzling with aggressive tension, fights happened, arguments, people tiptoed around each other.

Iris wanted to hide under her duvet and never get out ever again – at least not until graduation. There was so much pretending – people put such a conscious effort into not thinking too hard about the current events that Iris felt like she was walking among a bunch of ostriches with their head buried in the sand.

“But hey,” she tried to offer Archie a genuine smile. “You two made up!” She gave him a friendly punch in the shoulder. “I'm happy for you.”

“Yeah, I think I finally understood his point of view and we both agreed that I acted like an idiot,” Archie admitted with a slight blush and he rubbed the back of his head, looking away.

“Well, he has nothing to envy you in that department,” Iris snorted. “How are things with Betty? Not too awkward?”

“We're fine, I guess,” he said hesitantly. “I mean, it's not like it used to be, but we'll get there eventually.”

“Give it time,” Iris advised him.

“That's what Veronica told me too, but I can't help but feel guilty.”

“There's no reason for you to feel guilty about this, it's out of your control – and it's nobody's fault if you don't feel like that for Betty. I know she'll understand, she just has to wrap her head around the idea. Girls need time to push aside their feelings. The heart knows no logic.”

“Tell me about it,” he laughed. “I better go, the others must be waiting for me,” he informed her and gave her a gentle tap on the shoulder as he said goodbye and walked past her.

“Later,” Iris said and headed outside.

Everybody must have gone home by now – most cars where gone from the parking lot. She froze as soon as she heard a familiar sound coming from the girls' locker room. Iris stopped behind the closed door and pondered the pros and cons. She tried to recall which girls she saw leave earlier and who might still be inside and her conclusion was that it must be either Betty or Cheryl – but she knew that Betty didn't leave because she worked at the Blue & Gold after class.

She knocked on the door and called Cheryl's name, immediately making the sobs come to a stop. It's the second time she would find Cheryl crying – or rather, it was the second time she dealt with a crying Cheryl. The time first she didn't so much find her than run after her when she fled from the pep rally.

“Go away!” She shouted through the door. “Can't a girl have a moment alone?!”

“It's me Cheryl.” There was no answer. “Can I come in?”

The first time she listened to Cheryl's sorrows, it concluded on her admitting she hated Iris at first sight because she looked like such a hobo with her saggy clothes and already bad company.

“Jughead is bad company?” She had asked and Cheryl's flawless hair whipped around as she turned her head to meet Iris' eyes.

“Are you kidding? You committed social suicide on your first day of school,” she had replied with a credulous look in her eyes. “You're deader than Jason.”

“Well, nobody's mourning me, so I guess he has it pretty good.”

This is what made her smile again and they silently agreed never to mention what happened here ever again – Iris and Cheryl parted ways and didn't tell anyone about their secret locker conversation.

Now the scene was playing again.

“You may come in,” Cheryl said after a while. When Iris entered, she saw her red eyes and slightly runny makeup. She must have rubbed away her tears before letting her come in.

“You look like you need to let out a little steam,” Iris observed after a moment of silence. A look of offense crossed the ginger girl's features. “We're not throwing a pity party in the locker room again. If you want to vent to me, we're doing it over a milkshake.”

“What's with the bossy tone?” Cheryl stood up and asked defiantly.

Arms crossed over her chest and chin up, she looked even taller than she was. In some twisted way, her stubbornness and pride reminded Iris of Jughead.

“You're not the only one who's got shit going on, and I can't deal with any more of it on an empty stomach. So are you in or am I going to have to sit alone at Pop's?”

“What? Did the sad breakfast club kick you out?” She snapped. “You should know I'm no booby prize, you can't use me to replace your dumb friends.”

“You've got it backwards. I'm not trying to fill in a void with your friendship Cheryl, I'm offering you mine.”

Iris adopted the same defensive stance as Cheryl and the two girls stared each other down until Cheryl settled on a quiet 'fine' and led the way out of the building.

“But I refuse to be seen in your old wagon,” Cheryl warned her. “We're taking my car.”

Iris had to admit she had been drooling over Cheryl's red 1961 Chevrolet Impala convertible and it surprised her that she hesitated before agreeing to sit in this beauty.

“You'll need to drive me back here then, so I can get my car back.”

“Are you coming or not?” The stunning ginger asked her impatiently as she tapped her neatly manicured foot on the ground.

She opened the door to her car and jumped in before Iris had time to answer – not that she was going to say no.

“This is not us hanging out, this is strictly for mutual benefice and we are not friends,” Cheryl said five minutes in the ride.

“Thanks for the clarification but I think I caught that on my own,” Iris said sarcastically, squinting her eyes at the setting sun. It was fall already and the days grew shorter each day.

“You're brighter than I gave you credit for,” Cheryl chirped happily, glad they were on the same page. “Maybe you're not a lost cause.”

“Be still my beating heart, did I just hear something akin to a compliment cross your lips?”

“Don't get used to it,” she snapped. “We're not here to talk about you. This is about me and my loss.”

“Of course;” Iris smiled humorlessly. “I imagine you are not a huge burger fan, but I'm starving. You can take all night to tell me about your beloved J.J. as long as I get my food.”

A small, almost too fleeting to catch it smile cracked Cheryl's mask of impassibility. Iris said nothing for she knew that if she dared point it out, she would never get a chance to see it again.

What she did see, clear as daylight though it was already getting dark, was the scene playing out before her eyes when Cheryl parked her car in front of Pop's. Through the window Iris could make out her friends' faces, laughing, sharing a good moment, and suddenly she realized that she hadn't been invited. She wasn't part of the sad breakfast club. Betty leaned over the table, her body shaken with laughter at something Archie must have said and she bumped into his shoulder. Sitting across from her was Jughead who smiled and silently observed his friends, while Veronica sipped her chocolate milkshake and tried not to spill any when she laughed with the others.

“Someone looks bitter,” Cheryl observed before climbing out and shutting the driver's door. “Can't have it all, newbie. Having friends, avoiding drama, good grades, pristine reputation – you've got to make your pick.”

“I pick mind your own business Cheryl,” Iris said with a glare. “Like you said, we're here to speak about you.”

 


	9. Chapter 9

It was strange. Iris felt nauseous, like something wasn't right; like nothing was right actually. Her stomach churned, her head spun – everything felt like it was backwards or upside down. She couldn't quite place her finger on what was wrong – apart from the murder and the arguments and school and just the life of a teenage girl in general. Things had settled down a bit since Jason's body was discovered, but it didn't mean that things were better. In Iris' opinion they were worse. Everyone seemed to be stuck in a weird routine, floundering, going round and round, never getting anywhere.

Iris felt seasick on firm ground. A bitter, metallic taste lingered on the back on her tongue, making her feel like throwing up all the time. It was tenfold worse when she met Jughead's stern eyes looking her way, wary and unsympathetic. In the back of her mind she knew that she should laugh at the irony – this is what her first day at a new school should have felt like, but instead of that she had a great first day and only had to deal with the estrangement now.

Sort of. It was a slight exaggeration to speak of estrangement since Veronica, Betty, Archie and Cheryl still talked to her. Betty and Archie made sure to only ever talk to her when Jughead was not in their vicinity and they clearly walked on eggshells. Iris almost wanted to tell them that they didn't have to hang out with her – as if they needed permission to stop speaking to her – but she feared that they would simply sigh in relief and walk away. Cheryl on the other hand was actively trying to make Iris part of the River Vixens and punish her disloyal minions by replacing them with her. Iris didn't mind spending time with Cheryl, she wasn't half as bad as she made it seem. As of right now, she might even be the only person who genuinely wanted to see Iris outside of school and didn't feel an ounce of shame or embarrassment for it. Still, there was no way Iris would become a Vixen – there were two reasons for this. The most relevant was that she didn't have the physical capacity and agility required, but the first reason that came to her mind when Cheryl brought it up was that it would prove Jughead right and she would not be able to bear it if she met his eyes and saw disdain and mockery.

And then, there was Veronica. She didn't care much for other people's opinion either.

“You should come,” she said with a wide smile, sitting down on Iris' bed. “I know Archie would like to see you in the crowd. He's a ball of nerves and any familiar face is welcome.”

“Don't feed me crap Vee,” Iris said and rolled her eyes. “He'll have projectors in his eyes, he won't see anyone and especially not me – as if he'd care. The only thing I could possibly accomplish by showing up is making everything awkward for you guys.”

“Nonsense!” She waved her hand. “Why would you make things awkward?”

“Please don't act like you don't know.” Iris sat down next to her and looked Veronica straight in the eyes. “Jughead will be there and Kevin too. They look at me like I'm the dirt under their shoes.”

“You have a flare for the dramatic, don't you?” Veronica laughed, clearly not bothered by Iris' stern tone. “Kevin is a bit paranoid since the thing with Jason's body,” she explained. “And I shouldn't be telling you this – I promised to keep it for myself - but since you're so worried about pleasing everyone I guess you need to know. Kevin saw you in one of his dad's files. He thinks you're hiding something.”

“What on earth does he think I'm hiding?” Iris asked completely taken aback. “Wait a second, since when do you know that? Who else knows?”

“Wow, calm down Iris, why so many questions?” Veronica laughed it off but it sounded nervous and she fiddled with her hands. “It's nothing serious. Kevin's just freaked out by this whole thing. I'm sure it's not personal.”

“It is serious to me if it's public knowledge. Answer me please, it's important.”

“Well- eh- I think he told us a couple weeks after the beginning of school year. The whole gang knows, but we haven't told anyone else.”

“Jughead knows? He's known it this whole time?” Iris insisted, feeling her patience wear thin.

“I mean... yes,” Veronica eventually admitted, seemingly not understanding why Iris was makig such a big deal out of this.

Iris shook her head and sighed before sitting down. Maybe she should stop worrying about what her classmates thought of her and start worrying about the fact that Riverdale's sheriff had deemed it necessary to mention her name in a file. Think of it, it might be because of the bullet tree, but what if it's something else? 

“Alright. Does Kevin have any theories so far?” Iris asked more calmly.

“I don't know but he's persuaded that you have a secret agenda. Some shady ulterior motive for working with Jughead on Jason's case.”

Veronica looked at her manicured hands and Iris couldn't help but think that she was only doing it to avoid her eyes. She was used to people looking anywhere but at her, she knew the signs.

“Well I'm definitely not doing that anymore, so why is he still glaring daggers to my back?”

“Just ask him!” Veronica exclaimed, probably having grown tired of her questions and self-victimization.

Iris huffed, “yeah sure, that'll work.”

“If you won't talk to him then forget him, Kevin will eventually have to wrap his head around the idea that you have done nothing wrong. But what about Jughead? What happened between you two? Did one of you make a move or something?”

“Make a move?” Iris frowned and leaned away from her friend. “No! Vee, no! That is so beside the point. Jughead acted like an idiot and said some hurtful things that he can't take back. What am I supposed to do? It's no like I'm the one who has to apologize!”

“I haven't known him for long but I can tell you that it won't happen if you don't give him a little push first,” Veronica told her wisely. “He's a stubborn one. He likes to think he's smarter than all of us, and maybe he is but the point is that he hates to be wrong and even more so to have to admit it. Out loud. To someone else than to himself.”

“Fuck him then,” Iris spat. “I have other things to do than to deal with his childish behavior. If he can't realize that he messed up and mend things before it's too late then fuck him.”

“Preach girl!” Veronica raised her hand toward the sky in a 'preach' gesture and smiled but it was useless. Iris was not in the smiling mood and hasn't been for the past two weeks. “Even if I agree with everything you just said, I know you don't mean it.”

“Oh? And why is that?” Iris asked defensively and crossed her arms over her chest, raising her chin up as she waited for Veronica to explain herself.

“Because you like him,” she said matter-of-factly. “No need to pretend otherwise. And I don't mean that you appreciate him as a friend but that you like _like_ him.”

During the ten seconds of tense silence that followed Veronica's statement, an impressive number of possible answers crossed Iris' mind. She wanted to deny first, obviously, claiming that Vee was imagining things, that she bore no feelings for Jughead other than contempt at this point. Then she thought she could laugh and pretend she didn't believe her. “Are you joking Ronnie? Because that's a good one.” Except that it didn't sound like her and hearing a sudden laugh come out of Iris' mouth after days of brooding silence would only confirm her suspicions. She could scoff and mock Veronica for even thinking such a stupid thing. She could get angry, she could go on and on about how she'd rather stab herself with a dull knife than get romantically involved with Jughead.

But she didn't have people queuing up to become her friend and Iris intended to keep Veronica's friendship. So she opted for another option.

“Does it make me dumb for thinking that he felt the same for a second? It does, right?” She blurted out. “Don't answer that,” she quickly added when Veronica offered her a sympathetic smile and opened her mouth to say something. She closed it again and simply placed a hand on Iris' arm.

“Boys can be oblivious.”

“Girls can be too,” Iris mumbled. “Betty certainly is.”

Veronica's hand dropped and so did her gentle smile. She didn't look mad either but she certainly was surprised.

“So you noticed.”

It wasn't a question but Iris nodded.

“Makes two dumb girls in this room,” she sighed. Her eyes darted back up to Iris' attentive gaze, and there was sadness in them but also hope. “I'm sure they don't do it on purpose, you know? When they say things hurtful things. Nobody can live without hurting anyone.”

“Still doesn't excuse anything,” Iris scoffed. “It feels like we're living in a teen drama. You like Betty, Betty pines after Archie, Archie has the hots for you. I'm getting dizzy just thinking about it. Though I suppose I'm no better with my silly crush on the brooding edgy kid. Jughead doesn't think of me like that. He thinks of me like the number one suspect in Jason Blossom's death – I'm a character in his book at best.”

“No Iris,” Ronnie told her firmly, shaking her head. “You're much more than that. I'm sure he knows it, I just hope he'll get over himself and admit it before the window of opportunity closes. Don't give up just yet, boys can be quite thick, you know?”

“Betty likes you. She just doesn't know in what way yet,” Iris blurted out.

It made Veronica smile again, but Iris could see that it was a bit forced. Neither of them could forget the ache of being on the wrong side of one-sided feelings. It felt good to wallow in self-pity sometimes. And it was hard to see past the current state of things. One could only hope they would stop going downhill and start getting better.

What fools they were to think like that. But they didn't know yet. They didn't know how much more they would hurt, how much they needed each other.

 

*

 

A couple weeks would pass by without any more bumps in the road apart from those who where already there. Emotional wounds were healing slowly but inevitably. Iris felt a little better but not good just yet. As irrational as it sounded, she didn't value Betty, Archie, Veronica, and Cheryl's combined friendships as much as she did Jughead's.

“I am so pathetic,” she mumbled to herself, abruptly closing the book in her hand.

The person sitting next to her in the school's library jumped in startlement and glared at her. Iris returned to glare and gathered her belongings before leaving. She really wasn't wanted anywhere lately. But if she listened to her self-pity she might never leave her room again. Instead she stubbornly tried to mingled with other people – rather unsuccessfully but that never stopped her before and it certainly wouldn't stop her now.

In fact, she reveled in making people mad simply by being in their presence. It felt like she had a super power – that of making people stop talking whenever she entered a room. Had Kevin changed his mind about not sharing confidential information with people outside of his group? Veronica swore he did not. Or maybe the culprit was her constant state of fury. Iris might not be as good at hiding the fact that she was fuming inside as she thought. Maybe the ever-present scowl on her face and her foul mood were enough to turn her into _persona non grata_.

And also _maybe_ – just maybe – her new rotten mood had something to do with the fact that the Blue  & Gold, Riverdale High's news magazine, had been resuscitated by none other than Betty and Jughead. The two of them seemed inseparable all of a sudden, and when Archie accidentally mentioned their 'murder board' during one of their conversations, Betty's eyes widened and she tried to discreetly nudge Archie's elbow and shook her head no. Too little, too late. Iris' demeanor changed immediately and her face darkened. It took her about half a second to collect herself and smile again – but nothing was the same.

Jughead had replaced her, it was as easy as that. He spent his free time at the Blue & Gold office, not even finishing his days at Pop's to write his novel anymore. Archie was confused and a little lost to not be Betty's center of interest anymore and he even began to wonder if he didn't make a mistake when he pushed her away at Homecoming. Talk about a boy who didn't know what he wanted.

Veronica worried that if Betty caught up on that she might try to date Archie again, and that this time around he said yes. Iris didn't contradict her but she knew it would never happen. She saw the way she looked at Jughead and she didn't like it. Either way, Ronnie had no luck, and Iris even less so. Knowing the truth sometimes hurts more than living a lie, which was why she didn't speak to Veronica about her suspicions.

“Fuck me,” Iris grumbled when she hopped in her car. “Another lovely day being an underdog. Another day watching Betty almost sit on Jughead's lap.”

This is what she was reduced to do – talking to herself to meet her daily quota of socialization. The bar was already terribly low but she couldn't even meet that.

“Jesus fuck!” Iris exclaimed when a face suddenly appeared on the other side of her window. Her hand immediately flew to her chest and she felt her heartbeat increase drastically.

“Iris!”

It as Cheryl and her fiery red hair, knowing on her window as if she couldn't see her. Iris opened the window.

“Cheryl,” she greeted her with a smile. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I offer you my company,” she said with a wide grin, apparently thinking it was the greatest honor she could do Iris. “Where are you going?”

“Class is over, I'm going home to sulk in my room, maybe eat ice cream until I put on too much weight to fit in my favorite dress, so I have an excuse to eat even more ice cream and be even more sulky.”

“Dear me, I have never heard anything so pathetic in my life,” Cheryl sighed. Iris shot down her enthusiasm in under thirty seconds. “Move over.” Cheryl gestured her to get on the passenger seat.

“Wha-? What is this, what are you doing?” Iris asked in confusion but still did as she was told. Cheryl made her climb over the gearshift and onto the passenger seat before opening the door and hopping in the car herself.

“This is my car, why are you driving my car?” Iris wondered out loud, clearly having trouble catching up on the events.

“I'm driving it. Consider this a kidnapping. Veronica and I thought you needed some cheering up, we're tired of seeing you brood over this hobo Jughead.”

“Stop calling him that,” Iris snapped.

“See? You're still defending him-” she accused, looking at Iris as she drove out of the parking lot. “-it's unacceptable. He treats you like shit.”

“He doesn't treat me like anything,” Iris grumbled with her head against the window. She was so tired – physically, mentally, just always tired. “He barely acknowledges my existence anymore.”

“ _He barely acknowledges my existence_ ,” Cheryl repeated with a whiny little voice that should have been an imitation of Iris. “Shut up or I'll regret ever becoming friends with you. I already have enough secondhand embarrassment for hanging out with a rags wearing non River Vixen.”

“Well don't mind me, go back to your minions.”

“Certainly not. Are you hungry?”

Iris hadn't been hungry in a while. The only reason she didn't shift weight was because of the unhealthy amount of pastry she ate to make herself feel better. Sugary treats were medicine for the soul – that and depressing music.

“You're not answering so I take that as a yes. We're going to Pop's, the others are already there.”

“The others? What others?” Panic began to show in her voice.

“Why Iris,” Cheryl chuckled. “Your friends of the sad breakfast club of course. You understand I'm not coming, I only wanted to make sure you got there. I didn't trust you not to change your mind on your way there.”

“Changing my mind implies that at some point I agreed to that, which is not the case,” Iris argued but Cheryl was unfazed. “You said it yourself, this is a kidnapping.”

“You'll thank me later. Veronica will be waiting for you in the parking lot,” she informed her. “Tonight is the night your beef with little Juggie ends. And so does Veronica's desperate attempt at catching Betty's attention. You two need to get your life together.”

If Iris was certain that the only reason why Cheryl suddenly felt like helping Vee and her was her duty was because she needed to put her head to something else than the murder of her twin brother, she would have said something. A pout stretched her lips and Iris locked her jaw, swallowing back her pride.

“Fine!” She snapped. “I'm going, but I have a bad feeling about this. It'll turn sour.”

“Relax, _Cassandra_.” Cheryl rolled her eyes. “Here we are. Off you go,” she cheerfully kicked her out of her own car.

For a reason out of her comprehension Iris obeyed and hopped off, soon watching Cheryl drive away with her car, wondering how the hell she was going to go home or where she was taking her pickup. She shrugged it off – she would find out soon enough. As promised Veronica was already there, waiting for Iris. She looked stunning as usual, a little overdressed, especially if you compared her outfit to Iris' mom jeans and vintage man's shirt. Let's not even start on her wretched shoes and old leather jacket. It was truly astounding that Cheryl agreed to be in her presence dressed like this.

Veronica smiled her whitest smile and looped her hand around Iris' elbow. She once admitted that she did it to help her keep her balance when she wore heels. “It's a constant fight not to trip over your own feet in these shoes,” she had told her. Iris had laughed, and the reason why she remembered this in such details was because it was the last time she remembered laughing to hard since Jughead turned against her.

Cheryl was right, she had to deal with her issues, and the sooner the better.

“Oooh,” Veronica cooed, poking Iris' left dimple and making her flash a little smile. “I can see that you're looking forward to this! I knew you'd be happy to gather the gang. I know Archie was relieved when I told him, it really does take a toll on him to have his friends fight.”

“Who's expecting us? I suppose you didn't put Jughead in the confidence.”

They both knew he wouldn't have come if it were the case.

“Only Archie. His mission was to make sure Betty and Jughead leave the Blue & Gold for once and come to Pop's.”

“Smart,” Iris agreed. “Cunning. I admire that. Well done.”

“Thanks,” Ronnie grinned proudly. “Take a deep breath,” she told her.

Iris did so, and then Ronnie pulled her forward and opened the door. The door bell rang and signaled their presence to Pop and the other customers. The former greeted them with a nod and as for their friends, they seemed surprised to say the least. Archie was sitting across from Jughead and Betty and he shot the newcomers a happy smile. Betty couldn't hide her surprise if she tried and Jughead was as unreadable as ever. Ronnie's grip on her arm tightened, and Iris winced.

Veronica took place next to Archie and gave Iris a faint nod to tell her to sit next to Betty. Conversation died down as soon as they arrived but thanks to Archie's perseverance and Veronica's goodwill it started again, and Betty soon hopped on the train too and helped make things less awkward.

Sometime during this chatter, when Iris wasn't blocking out the voices of her friends, she actually had fun. She joined in and laughed a little and tried not to cringe when Betty mentioned how far they'd progressed on the Jason Blossom case. Jughead stiffened when she did, and Archie as obtuse as he was when it came to girls her feelings did notice this and quickly changed the subject, asking Jughead if he could help him and his father with a site this week-end.

Just when Ronnie was laughing, bumping against Archie's shoulder and grabbing Iris' hand on the table – in short when everything seemed to be fine and almost back to normal, that's when it happened. Smoothly and without any hesitation, Jughead placed his arm behind Betty and she faintly, nearly imperceptibly, leaned towards him, causing both Veronica's and Iris' smile to falter. Even a stranger would have seen that the two girls were just stabbed in the heart.

 


	10. Chapter 10

After a mere twenty minutes top, Veronica gave up. She gave a slight kick to Iris' leg under the table, not hard enough to startle her but to get her attention. When her brown eyes looked up from the cup of coffee she had been staring at for a few minutes, Vee offered her a sorry smile, and Iris knew.

“I'm sorry guys, but I have to go,” Veronica said, interrupting the conversation though she hadn't followed it at all.

“What? You just got here,” Archie argued, sounding like he genuinely cared if she was there or not, even if she had barely participated in the chatter so far.

She had reminded herself several times during the last ten minutes that it was her idea to come here and drag Iris with her. Veronica tried to convince herself that it wasn't fair to her friend to leave her behind while she cowardly made an exit, simply because she couldn't handle a bit of heartache. But as hard as she might try, she could not stand the sight of Betty being glued to Jughead a minute longer. Oh and poor Iris! How she must feel right now! They made quite the duo together, surely. Soon they will throw a pity party and eat ice cream together until the wee hours.

“I forgot that I have somewhere to be,” she excused herself, not proud of this ridiculous lie. She usually did better when she needed to get out of a situation.

“Vee-” Iris started, reaching out.

Veronica took her hand in hers to squeeze it but she stood up with an apologetic pout.

“See you in class,” she declared and hurried off with a quick wave of the hand, leaving them all confused as for the reason of this abrupt departure. Iris took the opportunity to get up and slid in the booth next to Archie rather than staying next to Betty and Jug.

“What's wrong? Why did she lie?” Betty asked the second Veronica stepped out of Pop's.

For whatever reason the question seemed to be directed at Iris, as if she was supposed to know what was going through Veronica's mind better than them. In this particular situation she happened to know exactly why Veronica was acting out of character, but she wasn't about to spill the info.

“I don't know, she was fine earlier,” she said, earning a sigh from Betty.

She shrugged off Jughead's arm and suddenly looked a bit distraught. Archie started speculating that maybe she had something going on with her mom and she didn't want to share with everyone. While Betty and Archie talked, Iris held up Jughead's stare. She had felt him staring holes in her head for days, whenever he thought she wasn't looking or aware of his presence.

Increasingly aware that this silly game wouldn't lead them anymore, Iris desperately wanted to look away but found herself hooked. There was something in Jughead's eyes she couldn't put her finger on, despite being reasonably good at guessing what went on in his head. Though one emotion she could clearly identify was surprise – he did not expect her to stare back in defiance, but rather have Iris shy away from his prying gaze.

“Do I have something on my face Jughead?” She asked eventually, earning Betty and Archie's attention as well.

For a solid five seconds Jughead didn't know what to say so he stared in confusion, mouth agape until he muttered a dismissive 'no' and focused back on his cup of coffee. He didn't dare look up for a few minutes and blocked out the ensuing conversation, simply glaring at an invisible thing in front of him. Betty, who had once again started worrying about Veronica's early departure, had to give Jughead a nudge with her elbow when she realized he had zoned out.

Iris pinched her lips, she couldn't help but feel glad. There was no reason for her to be the only miserable person at this table. Jughead deserved to taste his own medicine.

“Sorry, I was just thinking about a possible lead,” he explained evasively though convincingly enough to fool Betty and Archie.

They both stared at their friend and crossed their arms. Iris could have thrown up in that moment – the tension was such it made her physically ill. It looked like she wasn't the only one feeling it, because even Archie couldn't take it anymore; ten minutes later he also made an excuse and left with the promise of meeting his friends the next day.

“Well...” Betty began, not knowing who she was talking to now that she was stuck with two brooding personalities. “I guess it's time to go. I promise my mom I'd be home before dark, so-”

Iris would have jumped over the table to hug Betty if she wasn't still mad about her little display of affection towards Jughead. Jealousy, that old friend of hers.

“Jug, will you walk me home?” She asked in an infuriatingly innocent voice.

Against her better judgment, Iris scoffed but pretended to drink her coffee to make it look like it didn't have anything to do with what Betty said. She didn't seem to notice anyway, though Jughead stared in anger and confusion at her behavior.

If she wasn't so clearly being naive, Iris might have gotten really angry. She wanted to, she did. But deep down she was aware that Betty did not purposely ask Jughead to walk her back right in front of Iris to make her jealous, it wasn't in her nature. It was all the more maddening because Betty gave her no reason to be angry at her, she wasn't doing anything wrong _per se._ Jughead though wasn't as oblivious to what was unfolding tonight, and his eyes switched to Iris for a split second.

Did she see hesitation in his eyes or was it the reflection of Pop's neon lights? At this point she wasn't sure she even cared, she was emotionally exhausted and yearned to go home, to hide under her duvet and only go out when she absolutely needed food or a bath.

“I for one, am exhausted,” she declared in an ultimate effort of sounding like her usual self, even shooting them a smile. She did not want to see the outcome of this, the sooner she left the better.

Iris waved them all goodbye and a round of byes echoed her statement. On her way to the door she slipped a bill to Pops, and forced herself to adopt an even pace, to not rush out that door like the devil was after her.

To her utmost surprise, her car was in the parking lot – how Cheryl did it she had no idea but she wasn't going to stop to ask. With tears already blurring her vision, Iris jumped in her pickup and engaged on the road after rubbing away the welling up tears in her eyes. The others did not notice that she didn't turn left, where her house was, but went right, headed to Veronica's.

 

*

 

Finding Cheryl Blossom sitting on Veronica's bed in her luxurious silk nightgown was the last thing Iris expected to see when she arrived to her friend's place, and it made her feel bad about her current state. She knew she looked a fright, she didn't need to hear it from another person.

“Iris, doll, you look a fright,” Cheryl told her the second her eyes landed on her.

Iris huffed and let her bag hit the ground in a muffle thud, not caring about anything inside.

“It's partly your fault. You're the one who ambushed me and made me go to this farce!” She accused the ginger girl unjustly, but she knew Cheryl wouldn't mind, and would know Iris was merely in a foul mood. There was nothing personal in this.

“No, it's my fault,” Veronica told her, placing a friendly hand on her should. “It was my idea.”

Iris glanced at her but didn't say a word, her lips merely trembling. If she spoke now she was going to stutter out some nonsense and probably burst into tears. She truly was on the brick of what she would call a pathetic display of emotions.

“For what it's worth, I'm really sorry for what happened. I was hoping for a different outcome,” Cheryl said, surprising the two other girls in the room.

Trust Cheryl to sound insecure and miserable while also looking regal as she clearly posed on Vee's bed. If she wasn't so utterly distraught, Iris might have laughed.

“Why do you care?” Vee asked, sounding a bit annoyed.

Come to it, Iris had to wonder what exactly Cheryl Blossom was doing in her friend's room, dressed as if she was staying the night. Vee and Cheryl were not friends in the slightest – in fact Iris only knew Cheryl's minions to be her friends, and barely considered herself so. As always, the beautiful ginger had an ulterior motive. The caused a deep sigh to fall from Iris' lips and made her shoulders slump down in defeat.

Vee felt her distress and this time she took her in her arms. Iris didn't resist and wrapped her hands around her friend, still fighting to hold back her tears. She didn't like to cry, it made her brain fuzzy and stopped her from thinking straight.

“I care because, well... Iris is m- Let's just say I owe her one,” Cheryl said rather clumsily, while tugging at the hem of her nightgown. “And I thought that maybe, if I could help someone else with their problems, it would give me a semblance of control over the course of events. It's not because my life is a wreck beyond repair that yours have to be,” she concluded.

“Well,” Vee started with a shaky voice when Iris pulled back to look at Cheryl. “It backfired but no one can reproach you of sitting idly by at least.”

“It was a disaster but you would have regretted it if you hadn't tried,” Cheryl told them both.

Iris felt like a mere spectator to this scene rather than a participant. She still did not trust herself not to turn into a weeping mess if she so much as opened her mouth to agree with her friends.

“I'm sorry it didn't work out.”

A hiccup was the only answer she could give Cheryl, but the girl seemed to understand.

“Come on now, I'll give you one of my pajamas and we'll have a girls' night. Just the three of us and lots of tissues and self-wallowing to exorcise all this sadness. Tomorrow we'll be good as new,” Veronica stated with a confidence she did not feel but a necessary one.

Iris nodded and began to get rid of her outfit. It felt sticky now, as if soiled by the day's whirlpool of negative emotions. And as out of character and surreal this all was, Iris obliged without putting up a fight. She took Veronica's exceedingly fine nightgown, certain that she would never in her life wear something so soft and elegant, she climbed on the bed and accepted any and all things that were handed to her. A blanket, a macaroon, a hot cocoa made with coconut milk, and the three friends of fortune chatted away the dreadful day until midnight stroke and far beyond.

 

*

 

The Pembrooke's delicious hot cocoa as surely to blame for softening Iris, because under no normal circumstances would she have agreed to Veronica's offer to wear her clothes instead of wasting time going to her house before class. Iris somehow managed to dig out a pair of fancy palazzo trousers – anything was better than one of her signature short skirts, that simply screamed Vee and not Iris – along with a plain blouse. The only reminder of who she was were her boots, which were mostly hidden by the wide legs of the pants.

Needless to say, everybody started at her with wide eyes. Iris couldn't attract any more unwanted attention if she wore a sombrero or break danced in the middle of the dining hall.

“I've been looking for you,” Cheryl's voice came out of nowhere just when Iris was balancing an impressive amount of books in her arms in an attempt to put those she didn't need in her locker. It nearly made her let go, most definitely jamming her feet in the process but Cheryl grabbed the falling grammar textbook. “Don't be such a klutz Graham!”

“I wouldn't be such a klutz if you announced your presence instead of creeping up on me!” Iris accused though she wasn't really angry. It wasn't Cheryl's fault if she was jumpy today.

“I've always wanted a _h_ _éraut 1_,” she said pensively. “But daddy says it's too ostentacious.”

“No suprise there,” Iris replied with a somewhat fond little smile. “What did you want to tell me?”

“Saint Betty has been looking all over for you, it seems rather urgent,” Cheryl sighed. “And your bad boy hasn't showed up in English literature this morning, thought you'd want to know.”

Cheryl blew her a kiss and disappeared in a swirl of red hair, making Iris dizzy. How does she do that? And more importantly: could she teach her? With all her imprompu hasty exits, Iris could use to learn from the best in the matter of grand exits. 

Her eyes darted towards the clock hanging over the classroom door behind her. Two minutes before class begun, Betty would have to wait. Except that fate was hellbent on not giving Iris a break, and she bumped into Betty as soon as she turned round the corner.

“Iris! Where were you, we've been looking for you everywhere!” Betty exclaimed in visible distress instead of being glad to find the person she has been looking for.

We? 

“Hi Betty,” Iris said, her mouth a bit dry. “Kevin,” she greeted the young boy with a head tilt, which was more than what she usually did. 

While he still seemed hostile to her, Kevin and Iris tacitaly agreed to ignore each other as best they could. 

“Come with us!” Betty grabbed Iris' arm and dragged her away from her classroom, obviously deeming this conversation more important that her next class. 

She did not slow down until they were all three in the Blue & Gold office, and the door was locked behind them. Were Betty and Kevin going to murder Iris and hide her body? Kevin because he hated her guts, and Betty because she caught on Iris' regretful gazes towards Jughead and wanted to get rid of her competition? 

This was ridiculous, Iris had to get it together. This wasn't a crime novel, but real life, and these two were in her circle of friends – whether they liked it or not in Kevin's case. She realized she was standing in front of Betty and Jughead's infamous murder board now, and it made her heart heavy in her chest. 

“Go ahead, tell her,” she heard Betty whisper to Kevin in encouragement. 

Uncomfortable and out of his element, Kevin avoided her gaze while Betty gave him the big eyes and gestured him to make the first step. At long last, right before Iris started screaming her frustration of being kidnapped like that and forced to endure such tension, Kevin spoke up.

“I'm sorry,” he said, and Iris' jaw hit the ground. “For being a dick to you.”

“Well...” Iris begun, having no idea whatsoever where she was going. “You sure were.”

Crossing her arms over chest, she shot him a glare of defiance. She wanted to see how far he'd go in his apologies, wherever they came from. They were worth nothing if it all came from Betty, if Kevin wasn't sincere. Betty stepped a bit futher to give them a semblance of privacy. He blushed deeply under Iris' harsh glare.

“The reason I was wary of you is because I saw your name on one of my dad's files. I know it wasn't any of my business but you showed up at a bad time and when you tried to worm your way into our gang, I-” His sentence hung in the air, unfinished, and looked at Betty for a little help.

She stepped forward.

“I- I'm sure Kevin didn't mean to snoop or be mean, be was just careful because he didn't know you,” Betty tried to smooth things out between them but Iris turned her frown towards her.

“I appreciate it Betty, but I'd rather hear it from Kevin.”

“I get it,” he said, and Iris switched her attention back to him. “You have no reason to accept my apologies, I jumped to conclusions because I saw this file I was never even meant to see. Jason's murderer is still out there and we were all a bit on edge, but I know it's no excuse, I'm sorry.”

“What was in that file?”

“Iris...” Betty begun, darting pleading eyes on her.

“No, Betty, I wanna know,” Iris said with a hand raised to gesture her to stop talking. “Kevin was suspicious of me because he didn't know me. Now's the time to fill in the blanks. If you have questions for me, ask away Kevin. Now's your chance.”

She could see the spark in his eyes, a testimony to how eager he was, yet his mouth remained closed in a thin line. He was holding back.

“It said that you were the one who called the cops about the lost bullet, that you spend a greater amount of time near Sweetwater river,” Kevin finally told her, his tone careful, his voice distinct, feeling scrunitized both by Iris and Betty. 

“And you couldn't just ask what the fuck I was doing there, frolicking in the forest near the water's edge? Instead you decided I was the shadiest devil in town?”

“Well...” He said, obviously ready to argue but not finding anything. “Yeah.”

“Okay then,” Iris uncrossed her arms and though Betty was standing right there, hanging to her every words, she decided not to give a flying fuck. At this point she didn't have anything to lose so she might as well have the truth out there. Last night's girls' night had been a balm on her hurting feelings, and the three of them agreed to stop messing around and take their life in their own hands. “I know it's a lousy excuse, but I was only exploring. I was the new girl in town, eager to avoid curious stares, and needed a place to run, the banks of Sweetwater river were as good a place as any other.”

“Okay...”

“And then I started hanging out with Jughead,” she said, and her heavy tone conveyed just how much of a turning point this was. “And Sweetwater became a place of investigation, for his book. I didn't tell him because I was afraid it would sound desperate. I waited until I found something.”

“Iris...” Betty whispered suddenly, but if Iris looked at Betty she wouldn't be able to say the following words, so her eyes stayed locked with Kevin's who seemed to have forgotten to blink.

“So here you go Kevin. Your explanation is that I'm a stupid girl who likes a guy who doesn't give a shit about me – not anymore, anyway.” Betty and Kevin both stayed quiet. “Go ahead, have a laugh at me.”

“I won't-” He seemed puzzled. “I'm not laughing at you, Iris!” Kevin suddenly exclaimed. “I'm sorry, again. I forced you to say something you didn't want to share, obviously.”

When Iris turned her gaze to Betty, the girl had covered her mouth with a hand and closed her eyes. 

“I'm late for class now,” Iris told them. “Good talk.” She was already on her way out when the two of them came to their senses. 

“No, no, no, no, Iris wait!” Betty ran after her and grabbed her arm. “Kevin can you leave us, please?” 

“Betty, not now, I told you I have class,” Iris insisted but did not struggle out of her grasp. 

But Kevin hurried out and closed the door behind him, and in the blink of an eye Betty and Iris were alone in the room. Silence wasn't an option in Iris' mind so she spoke up.

“Alright, spit it out so we can move on.”

“I'm so sorry, I didn't realize!” Betty said, wide glossy eyes staring at Iris. “Oh my god, Iris! Me and Jughead! You probably hate me,” she heaved, as if realizing she had done something very bad without being aware of it. 

“I don't.”

“But I- we-” She couldn't find the right thing to say. “Listen, it's not what you think. It was all pretend, I swear. God, this is all my fault! Me and my stupid ideas, and Jughead who was nice enough to go along with them, god, how dumb of me!” She slapped her forehead a couple times for emphasis until Iris stopped her. 

“What do you mean pretend? You were pretending to flirt?”

“I know how it sounds, but-”

“It sounds insane! Why would you do that?!”

“Because- because- it's really not my place to say this, Iris. Don't make me say it. I only realized what was going on after last night, but the ahrm was done! I just- I only wanted you to know that it wasn't for real. You should go speak to Jughead, but please don't blame him, it was my idea.”

Iris didn't think it fair that Betty could dump this revelation on her simply because she couldn't carry the weight of her secret anymore. She didn't think it fair that she walked out of the Blue & Gold office feeling lighter, while every step Iris took felt heavy. 

But then again, life wasn't known for being fair. So Iris ran out, and straight to her car, thanking silently Cheryl Blossom for telling her of Jughead's whereabouts even if she hadn't asked. 

 

 

1Messengers of monarchs and nobles sent to announce things and praise their lords. The English word would be herald but Cheryl likes to throw in a French word every now and then, and since this one has a French etymology, here you go.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be the last


	11. Chapter 11

She was surprised to realize that she remembered how to get to Jughead's house without using her GPS, and soon parked her car in front of the old house, her heart playing the maracas in her chest. There was a huge lump in her throat, making her wonder if she would even be able to talk at all. Iris caught her reflection in the rear view mirror and winced.

Veronica had made wonders with her, there was nothing wrong with her appearance per se, but she looked so unlike herself that for a second she wanted to go home and change, take off the makeup, undo her hair. Had this entire situation turned her into something she wasn't?

A tired sigh fell from her lips – one more, one less, who was counting at this point? Iris kicked open her door before she could chicken out of this and put the contact on again. It was now or never, she was already ditching school, she was already feeling like utter shit, so really what more could Jughead do to her? She would end up getting a lecture from her dad, and feel miserable in any case.

Worst pep talk ever, she thought to herself, and smiled a little. She used to be funny. Who had sucked the joy out of her? Could she only joke around the one Jughead and no one else? If feelings weren't so wild and out of control, Iris would have chosen to swing the other way and live her happy ever after with Ronnie. Now she groaned. She was pathetic.

Her feet lead her to the front door and her hand raised on its own to knock, the gesture being so natural that she could do all of that on autopilot. And she was thankful, because her brains was on overdrive and it didn’t help think clearly.

As soon as she had knocked, Iris began to panic good and proper. What was she going to say? Where to start? She should be calm, or scream at him for behaving the way he did? Did she have to apologize? Would he? And what if he slammed the door to her face and refused to listen? Had they reached that point? It wasn't the first time in her life that Iris lost a friend to a grief, but it burnt like acid in her stomach each time.

The door remained closed for the longest time – or perhaps it was only long due to Iris' distorted perception of time. When it did swing open, her heart nearly dropped in apprehension.

“Hello? What can I do for you?” An old lady greeted her, only opening the door enough to peek through the crack.

Iris breathed again.

“I- euh- I'm sorry to bother you, I'm looking for Jughead? Jughead Jones? He lives here,” she stuttered out, feeling like an intruder suddenly.

The old lady smiled a little and opened the door wider.

“Jughead!” The lady said. “Oh my dear the boy doesn't live here! He helps me take care of my garden sometimes, you see I'm getting too old to mow the lawn, so I give him a little something and he does it for me.”

“This... is not his house?”

Iris' mind was a mess. All sorts of red flags raised at this revelation, and her brain glitched altogether. What was going on? She was absolutely certain that she had picked Jughead up _right here_. She couldn't be mistaken, she remembered the roses next to the door, the wooden beams, the flowery garden.

The more she thought about it, the less this house looked like a teenager lived here, or anyone under the age of sixty for that matter. This was an old lady's house, with an old lady's garden full of peonies, roses, and gardenias. This was not Jughead's house – he had lied. He gave her a wrong address.

Why did he do that? Was Iris to high on his list of suspects that he refused to let her know where he lived? Did he mistrust her so much? Was their entire friendship a scam? If she didn't get out of here right now she was going to cry right in front of the woman, who now looked at her with concern in her eyes.

“No, darling. I don't have his address but I can give you his phone number if you want?” She offered, in an obvious attempt to stop the tears from welling up in Iris' eyes.

“I already have it, but thank you. And sorry for bothering you, have a good day ma'am,” Iris bit her farewell and walked away.

She had lost the purpose in her stride and didn't know where to go now. She entertained the idea that Jughead hadn't just hid where he lives from her, and if that was true then there was no point in asking Betty, or Archie where Jughead lived because they would give her this very address.

Cheryl only said that Jughead didn't come to class today, it didn't necessarily mean that he was home, wherever that might be. And if Jughead wasn't home, or at school, then there was only a very limited number of other places he would most likely be.

Iris' got in her car again and started the engine. Her first stop was Pop's – an obvious place to start with, but it turned out being fruitless. At this early hour the diner wasn't even open yet. Her phone buzzed just when she was going to exit the parking lot.

“Cheryl?” Iris said in her phone.

“In the flesh,” Cheryl chirped on the other end of the call. “Where are you honey? You've been MIA since I talked to you this morning, don't tell me you left to look for this brooding wannabe Shakespeare.”

“I found Betty, or rather Betty found me,” she said with a sigh. “She told me something vague about how she pretended to be into Jughead, but then she refused to tell me why and insisted I go find Jughead because he was the only one who could give me the answer,” she explained as concisely as she could.

“Well dear me, this sounds dramatic and ominous, I wonder what could make someone pretend to like this edgy teen _cliché_ ,” she said, not sounding surprised at all. Then again dramatic behavior was Cheryl's signature, so maybe she lost the ability to be surprised by it. “Anyway, did you find him?” She added right before Iris could take offense, because he actually liked this edgy teen _cliché_ – albeit against her better judgment – and there was nothing wrong with it.

“No...” She hesitated, not wanting to admit Jughead pretended to live at a random house because he didn't want to tell her where he lives – regardless of the reasons, that was a fact. “I'm going everywhere he might hand out for now.”

“Try that crumpling, old car park cinema, he can't shut up about it being a part of Riverdale's history and that it needs to be saved from the bulldozers,” Cheryl nearly yawned as if it bored her just to talk about Jughead and the Twilight. She was right though, and it was Iris' next destination anyway.

“I'll do that,” she told her ginger friend – at this point there was really no use in pretending they weren't friends. “See you Cheryl.”

The ginger girl did not say goodby and simply hung up, as her usual. Despite herself, Iris smiled, because among all this emotional chaos, she had made a friend – a very unlikely one but a good one, she mused. Somehow, when she drove away, her heart wasn't as heavy anymore.

It came as a shock to see that Cheryl had been right, and the Twilight was not abandoned as it should be. The Godfather was playing on the giant screen, though the parking lot was empty. Iris hadn't expected to find him to be honest. A part of her even thought Jughead was gone – finally having had his fill with Riverdale's drama and tragedy.

She couldn't blame him, Iris would do the same in a heartbeat it the opportunity arose. But he was here, she knew it, and once again bracing herself, this time even taking the time to give herself a real pep talk, Iris got out of the car, and climbed the stairs leading up to the local where Jughead worked before the Twilight shut down.

What better telltale sign of Jughead's presence here than the fact that the movie stopped the moment Iris knocked on the door – and he didn't even know who it was yet. She laughed bitterly, not looking forward to this conversation but knowing it had to happen.

When he opened the door, Iris almost wished he were a friendly old lady. As soon as their eyes met, Iris' anger from the past few weeks of being ignored, looked down upon, frowned at, and generally badly treated rose up to the surface, and her mouth opened without her brain's permission, and started speaking.

“I went to your house,” she said.

Jughead, who was about to ask her what she was doing here, closed his mouth again, and looked away.

“You know the one you made me pick you up from, even though you don't live there,” she said, unable to hold back from sounding reproachful and mad. Hell! She _was_ mad. “I met the nice old lady who assured me that no Jughead Jones lives in this house. Care to explain?”

“I-” he opened and closed his mouth a few times, taken aback both by the question and Iris' tone of voice. He distinctly remembered her as being jovial and teasing, but never harsh, not to him anyway. Unless he deserved it, like that night in the woods. After reflection, he deserved it. “It's none of your business.”

If she hated him already what was the point in telling her? He might as well keep his secret well hidden and keep Iris' at arms' length at the same time.

“None of my business,” she repeated to herself in a hushed tone. “Right.” She clicked her tongue against her cheek. “And I suppose it isn't any of my business either that you used me for your goddamn book? That you kept from me that Kevin's dad had a file on me? That I am, and always was your prime suspect in this fucking Jason Blossom case you try so hard to solve? Was it also none of my business when you pretended to be my friend to keep an eye on me, or try to dig out some deep, dark secret you think I have? And maybe it wasn't my business either when you continued where we left our investigation with Betty? And when you and her pretended to have a thing for each other? Speak up Jughead, I'm curious.”

Iris glared so hard she thought she might set him on fire if she tried hard enough, and while Jughead wasn't screaming in agony yet, he also wasn't comfortable. His hands fidgeted, his eyes averted from her like he feared she might read the truth in his eyes. He still stood in the doorway and pondered what to do when Iris took the reins and pushed him inside. If he wasn't going to invite her in to talk, she would do it herself.

“Wait!” He called but she was already inside, and she stopped in her tracks. Not because of what he said but because of what she saw.

What she saw was a bed of fortune, his school bag, a few cans of perishable goods, a toothbrush and toothpaste next to the small sink, a bag of clothes sitting in a corner. There was a pregnant pause.

“What the hell Jughead?!” Iris exploded. “You better start explaining right this second or you'll see what happens when I'm done sulking an start acting!”

This time her anger was mixed with confusion – and perhaps a dash of concern, but first and foremost anger. Her incomprehension was painted all over her features, and while her tone was still harsh and demanding, her demeanor changed altogether. Her shoulders slumped down, her eyes begged him to come clean, to tell her the truth of what was happening.

“I can't stay in the dark anymore, just tell me what's going on or I'll go crazy,” she added, seeing his resolve waver in his eyes.

He looked terrible. Had he always looked so unkempt and tired? She couldn't remember the last time she looked his way and didn't catch him staring holes into her skull, immediately looking away. Because if she didn't see him glare at her, then she could pretend he wasn't.

“Fucking say something!” She shouted when he still didn't speak.

“Okay! Okay...” Jughead finally said, gesturing her to keep the volume down. “I'll talk, just please calm down. I'll answer all your questions, but you have to promise me this stays between us.”

“Like I told any of your secrets to anyone before,” Iris spat at him, sitting on the makeshift bed. It creaked under her weigh. After a second of hesitation, and after wiping his palms on his thighs, Jughead joined on.

For the first time in what felt like an eternity, they were sitting next to each other like before, about to have a somewhat civil conversation, looking in each other's eyes and not just trying to mentally kill each other. Iris felt a tinge in her heart and flinched.

“This is the part where you apologize for estranging me without telling why and making me feel miserable,” Iris told him in a much more even voice.

It hurt a lot more to hear her say that in such a flat, factual tone, as if she didn't trust herself to let filter any emotion at all. Jughead felt terrible. Even more terrible than he had over the last few weeks, when he distanced himself from Iris for reasons that Betty qualified as _ridiculous and undignified_.

“How did you learn about the file?” Jughead asked – he figured he had to start somewhere. Iris' expression immediately darkened and she leaned back, squinting her eyes at him.

He took a second to look at her and found she looked rather strange. She was dressed up, which was unusual, and it clashed with how worn out she looked. Like she wasn't sleep too well.

“That doesn't sound like excuses to me,” she seethed.

“Right, sorry,” Jughead said, blushing in embarrassment. What was he thinking? She was right of course, he had behaved abominably and now he reaped the fruit of his actions. “I have never pretended to be your friend, you know I can't fake that. If I don't like someone it's pretty obvious.”

“Yeah, I noticed that,” Iris snapped, making him feel even worse about himself. He truly hadn't rightly evaluated the extent of the damage he's done to their friendship.

“When we started meeting up at Pop's to write I hadn't heard about Sheriff Keller's file on you, I swear your meeting isn't some ploy.” Jughead raised his hands to show that they were clean in that matter. “It's true Kevin spoke about the file he saw in his dad's office when we pressed him about why he didn't like you. I admit I was curious but at this point I already knew you, and no matter what this file said I knew you were not a suspect. You were never on my list to start with.”

“Right, save it. You said it yourself that everyone is a suspect until proven otherwise. Getting to know me over burgers is not a proof, not even in my book, and it's nowhere near as strict as yours,” Iris fired back, unimpressed with Jughead's attempt to explain himself.

It was all good that he finally spilled the beans, but that still didn't even remotely resemble an apology. Iris could lie to Jughead but not to herself. True she wanted to get answers, but the main reason for her presence here was not enlightenment. She wanted Jughead to acknowledge that he hurt her, that he behaved like a caveman and that he was in the wrong. She wanted an apology, a genuine, heartfelt apology, and if it wasn't good enough she might have to actually scratch Jughead out of her life.

“I don't know what you want to hear Iris!” Jughead burst out, feeling more and more frustrated with the girl.

“You're not supposed to say what I want to hear, you fucking idiot!” She shouted back. “Say something you _mean_!”

“I'm sorry! I'm sorry I went about it the way I did, I realize it was dumb and hurtful! There you have it! I apologize.”

There was another long silence.

“You really can't admit your faults, can you?” Iris asked softly. “You say sorry but all I hear is excuses. I'm not your lapdog Jughead, I won't come back with a waggling tail because you scratch my ears. If what you said about being my friend is true, then by all that is holy, I'm begging you to make an effort, because I'm tired of running after you. If you think you can't be my friend anymore you need to tell me, I can live with that. I just want to clear the air between us, because I can't have you be mad at me forever without explanation.”

“I'm not mad at you,” he sighed, rubbing his face with both hands. “I'm mad at myself.”

Jughead angrily ran his hand through his hair, tossing aside his beanie and groaning as he leaned back and fell on the bed.

“So what? You take it out on me? My, my, it keeps getting better!”

“Will you stop being so sarcastic? You picked that up from Cheryl!” Jughead accused. “Everything isn't about you, Iris! I have other problems than our little argument at the river that night.”

“Anything to do with you sleeping at a drive in that's about to get demolished?” Iris asked to get this conversation back on track – they would never go anywhere it they kept throwing around the hot potato.

“It's a long story...” Jughead elided the question. “I know I shouldn't have given you a fake address but I panicked when you insisted on picking me up. I've been living here for a while now, no one knows and I'd appreciate if it stayed that way.”

“I won't tell anyone, you know that,” Iris promised, looking at him. Jughead, despite lying down, looked up to meet her eyes. Of course she wouldn't snitch, she never did.

“Now if you want answers you'll have to ask your questions again, but slowly this time. I never heard anyone ask so many questions at once, you made me dizzy,” he said in a snicker, prompting the same sound to come out of her throat.

It wasn't a laugh but it was damn near one, and for now it would do – an improvement is an improvement.

“I don't even remember what I asked,” she admitted, still laughing humorlessly, somewhat at a loss now that her anger had faded a bit. “I guess I just want to know what's been going on in that head of yours since our argument.”

“A lot, actually. I regretted what I said that night almost as soon as I said it. But once the words were out there I could hardly take them back, so I figured I'd stand by my word and hope for the best. Except it didn't turn out how I'd hoped, it went completely astray, and we stopped talking altogether.”

“You mean it wasn't your intention?” She asked for clarification.

“Not at all, I knew you were right, and I as the one who took the wrong decision when I left the river the night Kevin and Moose found Jason's body. I- I just don't like being wrong, so I kept quiet. Part of me wished you just dismissed what I said and blamed it on the situation, that you'd just come talk to me the next day like always.”

“But I didn't, because I'm not an idiot and I know what I'm worth,” Iris pointed out, earning a groan as sole answer.

He didn't need a reminded.

“You really hurt me, Jug.”

“I know.”

“If I had any sense of self-preservation I wouldn't be here in the first place. I should want you out of my life.”

“I know.”

“Then why am I here?”

“I don't know.” He sat up again. “But I'm not going to waste this chance. I'll tell you everything you want to know. I swear I never intended to hurt you. I know I did and I regret it, but there's nothing I can do about it now, can I? If you want to find out if I'm sincere about being sorry, you'll have to risk being disappointed again.”

“If that's how you try to convince me to listen to your poor excuse of an apology, I have to tell you it sucks.” He cracked a smile, rubbing his hands together in uneasiness. “It really does, you need to work on that.”

“I'll jot that down,” he snorted. “For now, what about I take it from the start?”

“That would be great.”

Iris shot him her first heartfelt smile in over two weeks, and gently bumped her shoulder against his. And just like that the floodgates opened, letting out a flow of revelations she was more or less prepared to hear.

  
  


*

  
  


Veronica and Betty were in a corner making casual conversation while stretching when Better confessed to having maybe made things worse yesterday by telling Iris something she shouldn't have.

“But after you left Pop's the other day I realized how tense things were between all of us, and Iris looked so hurt when Jug and I became all touchy feely,” she told her. “I felt bad, I couldn't keep up the act.”

“What do you mean 'an act'?” Veronica questioned her.

“Well, Jug was going about it the wrong way, so I suggested we give Iris a little push so she would finally take the first step and talk to him.”

“I don't understand anything you're saying,” Ronnie said with a confused and somewhat nervous laugh. “What are you saying Betty?”

“Jughead obviously likes Iris, you must have noticed.”

“Well... yes, but since their argument-” She started, frowning a big, not sure where Betty was going with this but she was interrupted mid-sentence.

“He's a mess, he does all the wrong things, he can't think clearly anymore. And if he doesn't get it together, than I had to find a way to make Iris be the mature one and talk things out.”

“Let me recap. You pretended to be into Jughead because you were playing Cupid for these two?” Veronica repeated just to make sure she hadn't gotten it all wrong, because it sounded so ludicrous and to be fair, quite sketchy for a plan made by Riverdale's very own Nancy Drew. “You scheming little match-maker!”

“I'm sorry but I couldn't bear it anymore, the _tension_...” Betty rolled her eyes. “But I haven't seen Iris this morning, and now I'm worried I made things worse by meddling, I hope nothing terrible happened. Oh Ronnie, what if I messed with the natural course of life?”

“Breathe, Betty!” Veronica laughed, feeling lighter and happier herself after hearing that Betty wasn't really in a secret relationship with Jughead. “She's a big, capable girl! If anything happened it's not to her, trust me... The girl has rage.”

“Please, I'd feel bad if Jughead came back with a black eye too,” Betty said with a wince, second guessing everything she did or said the day before. Curse her meddling nature.

“If you're so worried I'll go ask Cheryl,” Ronnie offered.

“Cheryl?” Betty frowned in distaste. “What would Cheryl know?”

“She's friends with Iris,” Veronica said, purposely omitting to add that she too had lowered her weapons in presence of the ginger force of nature.

So now Cheryl stared Veronica up and down in a rather judgmental way for having disturbed her lecture.

“Dismissed,” she said, and immediately the two girls she was ripping to shred for messing up a step during practice hurried off like two scared rabbits. “What can I do for you?” She asked, not as harshly as per usual.

“Have you seen Iris?” Ronnie asked Cheryl, who looked up as if thinking about it really hard.

“I called her yesterday and she was looking for her favorite charity case around town,” she very helpfully informed Veronica. “Haven't talked to her since, but if she's not here she must have found him.”

With that she twirled around, nearly whipping Veronica with her long hair, and walked away. Stunned but happy with her answer, Ronnie joined Betty again.

“So?”

“She was looking for Jughead last she heard of her,” she told Betty. “But she's right, if Iris isn't here today, it might just be because she found him. Maybe they are still working things out,” she mused. Betty stared ahead of her and hummed as sole answer, obviously not entirely convinced. “Or maybe they are boning it out?” Ronnie offered, not helpfully at all.

She smiled and rolled her eyes at that.

“Oh please! I can't vouch for Iris, but Jughead wouldn't... he's never... you know...” she trailed off, rubbing the back of her neck and blushing.

“Had sex, Betty. The words you're looking for are 'had sex',” Veronica laughed. “Wait a minute! You haven't... either?”

“So who can't say 'have sex' now?” Betty retorted smarty. Ronnie scoffed.

“Oh come on! Not even foreplay?” Veronica insisted, which increased the blush on Betty's cheek and made her stutter out a vague answer about 'being busy' and 'not having the opportunity', to which Ronnie only smiled before grabbing Betty's arm to begin practice.

  
  


*

  
  


“Jughead and Iris have been MIA since yesterday, does anyone know what's going on? Where the hell are they?” Archie asked the moment he set his lunch tray on the table in the cafeteria.

“Don't you worry Archikins,” Ronnie said, tapping his shoulder.

“Ronnie-” Betty started but she was cut off.

“They are probably making up for lost time! Before we hear from them, let's just assume the best, wadya think?” She chirped happily, spooning her yogurt.

“No I mean, Ronnie look! They are coming this way!” Betty pointed to the door, making everyone at the table, even Kevin, turn around to have a look.

Surely enough there were the two class skippers, walking side by side and looking like they were in the middle of an animated conversation, what with Iris making big hand gestures to the point where Jughead had to catch her arm before she accidentally hit someone it the face.

“What on earth...?” Kevin whispered to himself.

“Do you all see the same thing?” Betty asked and was answered by a round of silent, stunned nods. “I'm so relieve I didn't mess things up!”

“What do you mean?” Archie shook his head and focused on Betty.

“Oh nothing!” Veronica answered before Betty could spill out the truth. “Betty here just likes to give a little push to destiny once in a while.”

Archie frowned because he didn't understand anything Veronica just said but figured it wasn't all that important if everything worked out fine in the end.

“Should we call them?” Betty asked.

“No!” Ronnie's hand shot out and took hers as if to stop her. “Let's give them some alone time. We know they're fine now.”

And so they turned around again, and continued eating, the topic shifting to something else.

“Don't look behind you,” Jughead started, “but all our friends are staring at us very obviously and insistently,” he told Iris who smirked at the thought.

“Right, I haven't really talked to them since I left class yesterday morning. I sort of told Veronica that I'd call her in the evening,” she suddenly remembered.

Jughead and her had talked away the entire day once they managed to stop blaming the fault for their argument on each other. It wasn't as easy as one might think when you take into account that Iris and Jughead were both stubborn people who liked to have the last word. But after some more yelling, swearing, and sighing, they got around to both apologizing to each other for the harm done, on purpose or not.

When he finished explaining that he felt too bogged down in his own mess to simply say sorry and go back to how things were before he said those hurtful words at the river, the conversation shifted to what prompted Iris to come search for him in the first place. The whole thing with Betty.

He stammered and blushed and avoided her eyes, making it hard for Iris to recognize the Jughead she knew and loved, the stoic, sarcastic movie buff who talked pop culture references and had a five foot tall brick wall surrounding his heart. She wasn't entirely convinced that was the whole reason for this act of his, but he told her that Betty was trying to make Veronica jealous – or at the very least see if she got jealous, because apparently Ronnie's crush on her wasn't obvious to her.

Iris decided to accept the explanation because she hoped for Ronnie that it was true, and she figured she had squeezed out enough information from Jughead for one day.

“Go figure, maybe they signaled us missing to Sheriff Keller,” Jughead snickered, peeking over Iris' shoulder. “They are not looking anymore.”

Iris turned around too and saw their friends chatting over their lunch – nothing unusual. She exhaled and leaned against Jughead.

“I should go say something at least, otherwise they'll spy on us until they know more,” she decided, and Jughead approved, telling her that he would be getting lunch and waiting for her at their usual spot.

She walked away and she hadn't even crossed half the distance to the table that Betty spotted her and jumped off her seat to meet her halfway.

“Sooo?” She whispered with a conniving smile on her face, as if she was waiting great news she had participated in making true.

“Please don't smile like that, it's a bit freaky,” Iris chuckled. “Everything's fine, we talked it all out. Cold war is officially over, you no longer need to pick sides.”

Iris' humorous yet dramatic announcement wasn't what Betty was referring to though, and the blonde girl made it known.

“No! I was talking about the other thing! About Jug and I pretending to flirt and all that...” she specified.

With a crooked smirk, Iris leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. She knew what Betty wanted to hear, but she was building up the tension.

“He told me too. You could've just said it that it was for Veronica, instead of making me chase Jughead around town,” Iris said, and Betty nearly jumped to her throat, putting her hand over Iris' mouth. “What-?”

“Shhh!” Betty shushed her. “Not so loud! And what do you even mean? I'm not trying to make Ronnie jealous, wh- why would I- I-” she stuttered out.

“Don't bother, I know you two have a thing for each other,” Iris said, making Betty blush and sigh in relief, somehow both at the same time.

“Yeah, okay, alright, cool...” she said in the least laid back manner Iris ever heard. “But it's still not why we put up this act. “It wasn't me who was trying to making someone jealous. It's Jug. I mean, it was my idea, the blame is on me for this one, but we did it to make you jealous of me for being with Jug.”

Iris' eyebrows went up and down and frowned and arched a few times during this confusing explanation that was a little far fetched and hard to believe, but way too strange to be a lie. If Betty wanted to lie, she would come up with something more convincing.

“Me?” She said, astounded. Betty nodded. “The fuck?” Iris exclaimed, having lost her ability to speak properly over this piece of news.

“You like Jughead Iris, you said so yourself. What's so strange about Jug liking you back?” She said softly, speaking low so no one could overhear.

“Do you hear yourself? The person I like liking me back? Unrealistic,” Iris dismissed the sheer though, waving it off. “He must have thought you wanted to make Veronica jealous and rolled with it while you thought you did it for him, classic misunderstanding.”

“We're not in a teenage drama,” Betty argued, grabbing Iris' arm before she could walk away. “And trust me, there was no misunderstanding. Jughead wanted you back.”

“He never had me!”

“Yes he had! Iris, _come on_!” Betty was this close to begging her. “Just go ask him if you don't believe me!”

“I will!” Iris replied, as if Betty just threw her a challenge. “I'm sure he'll laugh at me for even asking!”

“I'll be waiting right here if you feel like saying hi to the others and, I don't know, telling me I was right?” Betty smiled one last time and shooed Iris away and towards her and Jug's spot under the tree.

Iris marched with purpose and confidence, standing right in front of Jughead who was sitting against the tree like always, blinking at her because of the sun behind her back, and looking at her questiongly.

“I'm almost scared to ask, but: what's going on?” He asked.

“Betty told you something interesting, I'd like your input,” Iris said, and Jughead swallowed thickly, easily guessing what it was about – if only thanks to Iris' tone and demeanor, the girl liked to have to upper hand in a conversation and she used it mercilessly. “You know about this whole making Ronnie jealous scheme...” She trailed off, giving him a chance to explain before she got to the best part.

But he kept quiet and stood up, as if he had tied springs to his shoes, grabbing Iris' arm and dragging her away from prying ears and eyes, leaving their lunch on the ground. Iris followed him a winning smile on her face – so Betty was right after all! She couldn't believe it! She was ecstatic but she couldn't believe it! Jughead was so red in the face she could hardly recognize him.

When he finally deemed they were far enough he stopped in his tracks, and Iris shortly avoided walking straight into him, Jughead reaching for her so she wouldn't lose balance.

They stared at each other, both flustered, happy, and a nervous. He didn't remove his hand immediately, only realizing he was still holding her when she cleared her throat, and withdrawing his hands.

“I- euh, I thought-” He started, having no idea whatsoever what he was going to say, he just started talking on instinct, having no clue where he was going with this. “Betty said- and then I... I wasn't sure, and maybe it was... I don't know,” he mumbled.

It seemed Iris had unlocked the secret to making a future author lose all of his vocabulary, and it made her smile to big she thought she must have looked silly, but she couldn’t help it.

“You thought what, Jug?” Iris pressed him, having no mercy for the stuttering mess he had become.

“You know what,” he accused her, recomposing himself a bit. “Making me say it would be sadism.”

“I can live with being a sadist. Please enlighten me, I want to know what you thought,” she insisted, enjoyed herself oh-so much. “I'm enjoying this a lot, by the way.”

She took a step forward, and while Jughead was still nervous about his lie being exposed, he didn't step back and that was a good sign, right? She took it as a good sign anyway, and before he could come up with another way to dodge her inquiries, she reached up for his neck, and pulled him into a kiss.

Damn it all, they thought. Jughead might have forgotten how to use his brain but his body still functioned, and he answered the kiss right away, his hands holding onto Iris like it was natural. She expected him to pull back in surprise, but was glad to feel him reciprocate, and for a brief moment they both forgot the pain they inflicted themselves and each other the past weeks.

That is, until a round of cheers and enthusiastic whistles interrupted their moment. Archie, Betty, Veronica, Kevin, and even Cheryl stood uphill and showed their support in the most ostentatious manner imaginable while Iris and Jughead stood there, holding each other, smiling embarrassingly, and wishing their friends were a bit more subtle.

“All is well that ends well,” Cheryl declared, winking at Iris and stealing a glance at Veronica who was leaning against Betty.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for being the slowest updater in the history of fanfic writers, but at long last here it is, the finale of GMTA. It’s twice as long as the other chapters to make up for the time it took me to write it - which was exactly 12h actually, because yes I suddenly woke up and decided to finally write that bitch, so I sat down and typed all day until my arms hurt and posted it without proof reading because I was SO HAPPY this is behind me, I feel so accomplished today. It’s nothing like I pictured it when I first started this series, and it damn nearly ended up being a Cheryl x OC because I hate season 2 Jughead (which is why I didn’t feel like writing this anymore) but I forced myself anyway, because this story deserved an ending, and you and I deserve CLOSURE. 
> 
> To the anon 'alfie' who commented on the previous chapter: I TOLD YOU I'D WRITE IT FOR YOU IN ONE DAY


End file.
